Tying Bonds (A Big 4 fanfic)
by LUVdan934
Summary: Pitch, the Nightmare King, has chosen the kingdoms Corona, DunBroch, and Berk to help strengthen his army and bring darkness to the world. The rulers of these lands must join together, with the help of a certain winter spirit, to stand up and defend their land. Will they be able to stop Pitch or suffer in darkenss? (*I do not own any of the characters in this story*)
1. Introduction

The moon. A mysterious being who knows all and what is to become. Maybe that is why he paired up the unlikely four heroes together.

It all started with Pitch Black. The Boogeyman some call him. Pitch needed a place to train his shadow's to go against the Guardians. So, Pitch traveled to the Island of Berk, Corona and DunBrock.

"These places should be so perfect for my nightmares. So weak, so innocent, so vulnerable. It shall do nicely." Pitch reasoned with himself.

With a mere sweep of his hand, Pitch sent down him nightmares to eat off of all the poor soul's dreams and desires.

The hero's of this book share fates. Their fates were blended together when Pitch threatened their lands. Their fates were bonded when a certain short haired brunette princess told a certain invisible boy with magic powers that there was a problem.


	2. Corona

The hot, summer sun beat down on the kingdom of Corona, but Rapunzel could barely feel the harmful rays in her hidden-away tower. She was going to meet an old friend. A very close friend of hers. She hums to herself as she studies the countless collages painted on the walls. So many memories. Happy memories. Painful memories. Yet, her childhood memories. Memories with Pascal, Eugene, and even Mother Gothel. It had been a year since she found out she was taken. But no matter how much she told herself that Gothel used her for her power, she just couldn't convince herself that she was a bad person. A wintry breeze jerks her attention back to reality. Her eyes sweep the floor to the glass shards on the floor (she hadn't had much time to clean). She could see the familiar, smiling face.

"Hello, Jack," Rapunzel said, turning around. He leaned on the wooden staff he always carried with him always in a fond way. He landed from the window in front of wanted to reach out to him but something held her back. She went subtle. "How have you been? It's been a while since I've seen you."

"Too long." Jack cut in. Rapunzel nodded quietly. Jack got closer to her. He could sense something was wrong.

"What's wrong, Punzie?" Jack asked concerned. "Does it have something to do with last summer?" He remembered that day clearly. He had been there. With Rapunzel and Eugene on his death bed, he remembered when realization settled in that her whole life had been a lie. He was there for it all. But no, this was something else.

"Actually, it happened during the winter," she said finally, "Remember this?" she asked. Jack looked at her blankly. "My husband, Eugene went out one night, for some reason during a small storm, and he never returned. The palace guards set out in a search. They recovered his body, frozen." She paused, searching Jack's face for recognition. "He died of hypothermia." Just thinking back on it, she felt an extreme aching in her chest and before she could apologize, tears were trickling down her cheeks. They were cool on her face. They were always cool in the presence of the guardian of winter.

Jack's face softened at the sight of her in tears. "No, I don't seem to remember that." he lied. "And I'm sorry that happened to you." The fact was, he remembered. He was there, but there was more to the story than could be explained at the time.

Rapunzel nodded. "But, there's something else I need to tell you. There's something off in the kingdom, and I think you have something to do with it." she said.

Jack looked at her. Now he was confused. "What did I do, Punzie?" he asked.

She squinted at him accusingly. "You made those shadow beasts! And don't deny the truth. I remember all those frost creatures you conjured up for me when I was little. You're just using them now to torture the kingdom of Corona because you lost me."

Jack opened his mouth to speak. _She's blaming me for something I didn't even do?!_ Jack continued to stare at her. Shadow beasts? He knew that he would regret his next question, but he had to ask. "What shadow beasts?"

Rapunzel groaned. "I said don't deny it." She moved closer to him now. "Since I cannot arrest you, I have brought you here to tell you to stop." she said.

"I didn't deny anything, Punzie. Because I didn't do it." Jack exclaimed. "Also, I chose to come here." He stared down at his friend.

Rapunzel sighed in response. "The kingdom doesn't know what to do. I thought you could help us." She looked up at him with her big, green eyes. "Can you help us Jack? Can you help _ME_?" she pleaded.

Jack held her eyes for a second. He sighed, "I think I can do something."

Rapunzel broke out a smile. Jack liked that smile. "Great!"


	3. Berk

Vikings were everywhere. Dragons were being saddled. Berk was preparing for battle. Hiccup was sent to the battle arena to talk with his father. He bobbed and weaved through the crowd. This wasn't extremely difficult riding a dragon and all. It was difficult keeping Toothless away from all the Vikings carrying food supply but, they made it to the arena alright. Stoick was grabbing his weapons for the battle. Hiccup was unaware who they were fighting. Nobody had told him a word about anything. He thought he was going to be told right there. His dad might have some grand master plan up his sleeve. Stoick dropped his weapons as Hiccup and Toothless approached.

"Hi, Dad." Hiccup said as he dismounted Toothless. Stoick looked up to see his only son hobble over to meet him. He led Hiccup away from Toothless to the, mostly unused weapon crate. Hiccup stared curiously into the box, then back at his dad. Stiock was making himself busy by gathering the weapons and handing them to Hiccup.

"As you should know by now, us Vikings are going to war." Stoick said. This was bluntly obvious to Hiccup.

"Well, yes. I can see that this isn't the usual way to start the morning." he remarked.

Stoick ignored him and continued. "And thanks to you, we now have the dragons against our enemies. We need your help again."

Hiccup was expecting this. He was the top dragon trainer on the island. Of course he would be included in the war against the enemy. Whoever it was they were fighting.

Hiccup was quick to find out his assignment. "So, should I saddle the dragons, or something?" he asked.

"No," Stoick said, "No. You won't be in charge of any dragons except Toothless." Hiccup tried not to show his disappointment. This was common. Even though he could train any scaly monster that crawled in Berk, he still couldn't handle the 'big-boy' war stuff.

"Then what do I do? I can't do anything right that doesn't have anything to do with dragons, don't deny it." Hiccup exclaimed.

Stoick hit Hiccup on back hard as a reassuring pat. "You will have the most important job," Hiccup looked at him, expecting something worth his while. Will he finally be able to ride into battle? Maybe some spy work? Stoick took a moment to share the news. "You're going to be...surveillance!" he said.

Hiccup's heart dropped. _Surveillance?_ It wasn't the most rewarding of all war jobs. But, he tried to look on the better side of things. At least he would still be with Toothless. Him and his dragon, soaring the sky like old times. And he'll be away from the chaos going on the island. Stoick handed him an overly sized battle hammer. Hiccup struggled to keep it in his arms.

"What do I need this for? I'm not going into battle." Hiccup said. Toothless was next to Hiccup by now. Hiccup placed the hammer on his back. Toothless protested with a dragon groan. "Sorry, bud."

Stoick didn't notice Hiccup's struggles and kept digging through the weapons. "You're going to make sure the shorelines are clear so we can keep our boats concealed for the surprise attack." He checked a wicked looking spear, "And if there are people around, you need to defend yourself. So, you have to carry a weapon." he explained.

"Because I'm too weak to defend myself from everything in the world?" Hiccup snapped. He instantly wanted to take it back. Stoick sighed and bowed his head.

"No. I just don't want anything to happen to you. Who knows what I'll do if you lost another leg or worse?" Stoick paused, recollecting himself. "You're going to bring something whether you want to or not." he demanded. Hiccup didn't say a word against him.

Hiccup stayed in the arena with his dad for a long while. It was a long time since anyone said anything. Toothless nudged Hiccup to get on with it.

"Who is it that we're going against?" he asked.

"DunBroch." Stoick sighed. "And we will defeat them for good."


	4. DunBroch

Merida woke up to the preparing of war. War with the blasted Vikings of Berk. She knew that the entire village hated them with all their hearts, though she never understood why. Being raised in DunBroch, she had learned to do the same. She didn't bother combing her bushy hair as she went down to her parents and wee little devil brothers.

Once Merida got into the ginormous dining hall of the Bear king, she could see that her dad had seen better days. And for once, her mother had more important things to do than worrying about the family. This was obvious because Dad was sharpening his axe at the table. Her mother eyed the axe closely, but never reminded him to remove the weapon. Merida laughed silently at it. She took advantage of the absent mindedness of her mother and set her helpless bow on the table.

"Merida! There are no weapons on the table." Queen Eleanor said. Merida groaned.

"But **DAD'S** sharp'nin' his axe at the table! I don' hear you scoldin' 'im! Why am I any different?" Merida exclaimed.

"Because he has important things to be doing. Lest you forget, that we are at the brink of _war_." the Queen said in defense. Fergus spoke up.

"Speakin' of those 'important' things, Elean'r, dear, could ya leave us be for a moment? Take the boys away when yer goin' out." he instructed. Eleanor looked at the both of them, suspicious but nodded and guided the triplets out of the rooms. Merida sat up straighter.

"Merida. So you could imagine, we have declared war on Berk. Now that they have the dragons on their side, we have to double, or at least triple our war efforts. We could use all the help in the world an' I think it's time for ya to be apart of it." Fergus explained.

Merida felt a little burst of excitement. She could finally assist in battle! She was about to say that she was ready for everything. That she could fight anyone, and be devoted in training. But then Fergus stood up from the table.

"Speakin' as yer father, I would never wish to put you in harms way. Your mother would kill me." Merida listen to her father is disbelief. "Therefor, I shall put you at look out on the eastern point of the island. Those Viking ships could port there for an attack. You won't be there alone, don't worry. I'll have someone of your choice be there with you." He said. Merida held onto a bit of her joy. First, she was way more qualified than looking at a shoreline. But, she wasn't even trusted to be out there alone. Merida wouldn't let it happen.

"No. I want to do it alone. I don' need a babysittar watchin' my every movement!" Merida said. Fergus gave her a doubting stare. "No! I mean it! I can do this myself. I don' need anyone to get in my way."

Fergus sighed. "It's not that. I just want you to be in the safest environment possible. I don' want you to get caught, or worse. Killed!" he exclaimed.

Merida waved him away. "Okay, fine dad. I'll just be off on me way. I'll pick my watching companion and be on my way to the beach. I'll stay safe, and bring my bows so you don' have to worry." she said. Then she ran out the door to avoid any more say from her dad.

Merida was going to her duties, yes. But she was heading there alone. She passed the stables and had a thought. _Dad wants me to bring someone? Fine. I'll bring Angus._ she thought. She saddled the horse and set out.

The sky was still pink and orange with the sun setting. She passed her usual target practice, but didn't let a single arrow fly. She would have to be conservative just in case a fleet of Vikings DID come. As Merida got closer to her destination, she had an idea. If she met with Vikings, they wouldn't know whether or not she was from the island or not. She drew up a back story, where she was going, where she came from, and what she was doing in the forrest.

From this day only, her name was to be Adair Pauper. She was traveling in search for a stream of water to drink from and she was a native in Sweden. She felt prepared as she met with the beach.

Merida set up a little watch-out nook for her to relax, but stay at the ready. Night had fallen. Angus trotted around the hide-out and whined at her.

"Shush! Angus! Ya don' want the Vikings to hear you, do you?" she hissed at her horse. Angus snorted and trotted elsewhere. Merida yawned and smacked her jaws in the most un lady-like fashion. She was about to dose off into her own perfect dream when suddenly, a ginormous figure flew above her. Startled, she fumbled with her bow. She aimed up at the sky, secretly praying it was of her imagination. It was no ship, that she feared in meeting with. It was a dragon.


	5. Surveillance Pays Off

In the air, Hiccup tried to position himself correctly. He flew alone in the still night air to the enemy island, DunBroch. The plan was, he needed to get down to Toothless's claws, where he would drop down to the ground. Then Toothless would get the top view of the area and Hiccup would be able to see under the trees. Hiccup had brought a skinny stone to put in the foothold of Toothless's tail control.

They were approaching the east side beach so Hiccup got into position. He sighed and wished himself luck. He trusted his dragon friend, but it was still dangerous to be carried from twenty feet up in the air onto an enemy territory. The moment he took out his metal leg, he stuck the stone to replace it. Toothless stayed level but let out a warning shriek. There on the beach, was a lookout post. The person guarding the beach was aroused by Toothless's noise. Hiccup squinted to see who it was, but he was too far up to notice.

"Drop me lower Toothless and remember to stick to the plan." Toothless looked down at his rider and gives him a toothless smile. He then hovers, still struggling to keep his balance. Looking closer, Hiccup saw the look-out guard was none other than a girl. With a mess of red hair. And she was pointing an arrow right at them

Hiccup's first thought about yelling for her not to shoot, but then he yelled for her to help.

"Help! Help me, please! I-I have been, uh, captured by this ferocious beast!" he tried to struggle against Toothless's grip, but Toothless knew better than to let him fall. If the guard knew Hiccup had a dragon, then she would see him as a Viking. And then she would obviously kill him because she is the enemy, Scottish. Hiccup had to think. Since they were hovering over water at a safe height, he could land without any injuries. And by land, he meant fall. He lowered his voice so only Toothless could hear him.

"Let me go, bud." Hiccup instructed. "Stick to the plan. Circle the beach, stay low, don't let anyone see you." Toothless grunted in responce, let out a screech to show off, and released Hiccup into the water.

He was slapped around by the waves. He struggled to surface and keep his breath. He was tossed on his side on the beach. That was when he met the guard. What Hiccup braced himself for being pelted questions of distrust.

Instead, the girl helped him up and propped him up at her shelter. Hiccup coughed up some salt water. The girl helped hit his back to get rid of the remaining water. It soothed him down. It took a while, but she finally talked.

"Tha' was a nasty fall inno the water." she said awkwardly. "I wonder wha' a dragon was doin' so far from the Viking territory?"

Hiccup stuck with his cover. "Did you shoot it?" he asked, trying to sound hopeful. Her red hair shook.

"No, I miss'd by a few feet. Not used to the bow and arrow yet. Or shootin' upward for that matter." she smiled and placed her weapon in her lap. Hiccup was relieved, but let out a grunt of disappointment. He stuck out his hand.

"Hiccup, uh, a farmer on DunBroch." Hiccup introduced. He knew he should have used a fake name, but he couldn't think of anything fast enough. She eyed him curiously, like she was suspicious of something, but she sort of waved it off.

"Hiccup. I'm afraid I've nev'r heard of ye." she apologized "Or seen you for tha' matter." She eyed him up and down. Hiccup felt like he was being sized up and eaten by her, like a dragon would do when going in for the kill.

"Why would you?" he stammered, "I mean, I'm not saying that we're anything special, but," he exclaimed.

The girl spoke quickly. "I know all the farms on the island. I trade with one family, myself. I-in Sweden that 'tis." she said, then quickly added, "Merida," She extended her hand in a formal greeting. They shook hands. Toothless roared from somewhere in the forest. Merida yelped and brought her knees closer to her. Hiccup could tell that she didn't want to meet a dragon at all.

"Merida, since there's a dragon on the loose, I think we should go somewhere to be safe. My farm is probably miles and miles away. Is there a little place near-by we could stay?" Hiccup asked. Merida hesitated. But when more screeching from Toothless was heard from deep within the trees, Hiccup saw in Merida's eyes, anger, confusion, and well hidden fear. She nodded.

"Are you well enough to walk?" she asked gingerly. She looked him up and down and gasped when she saw his leg. She stared at Hiccup then looked down at her own feet, feeling rather embarrassed to stare for so long.

"A dragon's fire in my barn. I was hit with a beam while rescuing the horses. They had to amputate it." Hiccup explained. Merida nodded, still looking at the ground. She helped him up despite his say about being fine. As they were walking in direction of the nearest shelter, Toothless shot the sky three times. It was the sign of the all clear. The Vikings were coming.


	6. The First Attack

It took no time at all to get back to the kingdom, Corona for Rapunzel and Jack. Jack was followed by a cool breeze which was most needed in the late summer heat. He played around the nearby children, surprising them with a blast of cool air, twirling the fallen leaves around the citizens as well. Rapunzel ran alongside him, her bare feet on the stone. People everywhere bowed before her. She still wasn't used to this kind of attention. The only person who didn't seem to care was Jack. They had been friends since as long a Rapunzel could remember. Since no one else could see Jack except for Rapunzel, when the two talked, they received strange stares.

"So, there are other places with this 'shadow problem'?" Jack asked smugly. He walked next to her, his staff in his hand. Rapunzel gave him an aggravated look and Jack flashed her a crooked smile.

"Well, you should know. Since you're the one behind all this." she accused.

"I already told you. I've had nothing to do with this." Jack exclaimed defensively.

"Just wait until nighttime. If the shadows don't show up, then I'll know that you just want to keep up the lie in front of me. If they do come, then you're off the hook." Rapunzel bargained.

Jack sighed. _I'll just have to wait until nightfall. Then she can drop this crazy idea._ Jack thought. He nodded in response. He would prove his innocence.

They walked along the cobblestone road until the blades of grass tickled their feet. They were walking back towards the old tower. When Rapunzel told her real parents about where she had been the last eighteen years of her life, her parents begged her to tell them the location of the tower. They felt like they needed to destroy it, because of all the pain it has caused in the family. Rapunzel refused to tell them, so the lonely tower stood abandoned at least until Rapunzel needed some alone time or to escape her princess duties. At least Jack was always there to accompany her.

So, they camped out in the old tower until nightfall, catching up and discussing long forgotten acts. Rapunzel laughed at all of Jack's mischief and tricks. And Jack listened in great detail at Rapunzel's point of view of what happened to her last summer. When she met Eugene. Their conversation went on for a few hours without noticing it. And they would've never stopped until a shadowy streak passed over the window.

Rapunzel stopped in mid sentence when the streak passed. She froze, her eyes glued to the opening of the window. It blew the candles straight out. Rapunzel hugged her shoulders. Jack stood and moved to the window. He could hear Rapunzel clear her throat behind him.

"Very convincing. I still know you're the one behind the shadow things. Those things always come in here through the garden's window. I'm not going to give in to this little act of yours." she said, crossing her arms.

Jack gave her an annoyed stare, "I thought you said if the shadows came back that you'd forgive me and drop this whole subject."

"So you admit it's you creating the shadows?"

"No, Punzie! You have to believe me. I'm not causing this." This was the beginning of yet another argument but stopped it when the roof rattled. Rapunzel went to relighting the candles. Jack positioned his staff at the window while looking uneasily at the roof.

"You still think I'm behind all this?" he asked Rapunzel. She gave him a look of doubt.

"No. I'm not. B-But, if its not you... who could it be?" she asked.

As if Rapunzel said a trigger word, black smoke substance erupted outwear from the garden window. Rapunzel gasped and hit the ground. Jack reacted quickly and shot out at the shadows with an ice streak. The shadows disintegrated on the spot. Rapunzel sprinted over to the shudders and shoved the window shut before anymore could get in.

"Alright. You're not the cause of this." she said, holding back the flow of shadows ramming into the window. Jack ran over to help her. He slammed his back against the shudders, his arms out stretched. Rapunzel looked so small and helpless beside him. The force against the window was so powerful, it knocked her off her feet. She landed on her hands and Jack gave up his position to help her up. Once the window became free, the shudders exploded around them and shadows came pouring in around them. Jack stood his ground with staff in hand. Rapunzel stood up behind him and looked around her in fear.

"I can sense your fear," a deep voice purred in the darkness. Shadows hissed around them and lunged to attack them.

"PUNZIE GET DOWN!" Jack positioned his staff and shot at nearby shadows. Rapunzel ran to the stairs to lock herself in her room. Shadows chased her up the stairs and she tried to kick at them. The shadow clutched her ankle mid kick and brought her down. She clawed at the steps.

"Jack!" she shouted out to her friend. The winter spirit turned to help her, but a shadow tackled him to the ground, knocking his staff from his hand. Rapunzel clawed at the floor, as she was being dragged into the darkness.

"Rapunzel, hold on!" Jack struggled against the shadow (a fairly difficult task) and tried to reach for his staff. _Almost. C'mon, Jack!_ he chanted to himself.

The familiar clean wood reached his fingertips, as he lunged for it. He swung up, knocking his opponent off of him and aimed his makeshift weapon at the darkness. Not sure what he was aiming at, he sent a cold blast into the shadows, which then evaporated leaving only a delicate frost pattern in it's path. Rapunzel, still on the ground came running to him.

She wrapped her arms around him and shivered into his chest.

"W-what... happened?" she murmured. Jack held the princess close.

"I'm not sure." he stated. "But we're not safe here."


	7. Into Enemy Territory

Jack and Rapunzel barricaded all the entrances and nooks and crannies. But, despite the precautions, and Rapunzel's comments, Jack stayed alert.

"You don't need to go out there. You saw what those things did. They're evil." she places a hand on Jack's arm.

"Rapunzel, I have to go. If you said those things are evil, then we have to get the other kingdoms to cooperate." Jack reassured, "I promise you, I'll come back." He gave her a small smile and she returned. That reassured Punzie for now. She knew that Jack would be alright. He was her friend, and he was brave. Once she was sound asleep, Jack would go and visit the other kingdoms with the same shadow being problem. When the moment was right, Jack took off.

While the Viking fleet were sailing into enemy territory, Hiccup was unknowingly being led by the ruler of said enemy land.

Hiccup was trailing behind Merida looking behind him for his fellow Vikings and dragon friend. He was deep in thought, until Merida stopped suddenly in front of him. Hiccup bumped into her. He looked up at what could make her stop, and he saw a small blue spirit. Hiccup glanced at Merida. Her face was full wonder. He waved a hand in front her transfixed face.

"Uh, Merida? Are you okay?" he asked. Merida blinked a few times, snapping out of her trance.

"Hm? Oh, yes, Hiccup! I know where to go, now." Merida said.

"You mean, you didn't know before?" Hiccup asked, with a smile.

"Guilty?" Merida answered.

A trail of the small spirits appeared. Merida grabbed Hiccup's hand and ran with him on the path that were laid out in front of them.

"You've done this before?" Hiccup asked as he stumbled along. Merida looked back and rolled her eyes. Hiccup cleared his throat. "So, what are these things?" he asked.

"They're called wisps. Legend says tha they lead you to yer fate. I though all of the townspeople knew tha story." she pointed out.

"Well, I've just never seen one before." Hiccup covered up.

The wisps led the two deeper into the forest they were trying to avoid. "This can't be right." Merida murmured to herself. They came to overgrown bushes. A wisp beckoned them to follow. Hiccup stepped forward and cleared the brush away.

"After you, ma'am." Hiccup stepped aside.

"Why thank you, sir." Merida cooed, dramatically curtsying. She laughed, and peered for more wisps. She gasped. She quickly covered her mouth. There, scouting around, was the most ferocious dragon known to all-kind. The night-fury. This creature was prancing around, trying to stomp the wisp on the ground in front of him.

_Probably playing with his food,_ she thought. Hiccup, whom Merida forgot was holding the path for her, stuck his head out to see as well. Merida saw Hiccup's face flush. Merida put a finger to her lips, signaling quiet. Hiccup nodded slightly. Merida slowly gripped her bow and arrows. Hiccup held out his arm before she could take aim.

"What are you doing?" Merida barely whispered.

"You can't just, shoot it." he pleaded. "We, uh, we need to come up with a plan of... of-" Hiccup struggled to find the right word. The wisp had evaporated, leaving the dragon confused. Toothless sniffed the air and his gaze went over to his master's hiding place. Merida's eyes widened.

"It's spotted us!" she started to panic as the dragon began to stalk over to them. She equipped an arrow in the dock and prepared to fire.

"Merida! Stop!" Hiccup knocked the bow from her grasp and approached Toothless.

"Hiccup! What are you doing?" Merida stopped once she sees him pet the dragon's snout. "You... yer a-" her sentence was interrupted when a bone-chilling breeze broke through the air. Hiccup looked up to the sky just in time to see a boy zip across the sky, followed by a flurry of tiny snowflakes.


	8. Explanations

Jack stood as the two thoughtless teens looked back at him. He wasn't exactly sure if they were staring at him. Being invisible for a couple hundred years can really have you doubt if anyone sees you or not.

"Do I have this right? I'm looking for the princess of DunBroch and Hiccup Haddock the Viking, correct?" he asked them, "It's good that you've already met. I hate formal greetings." Jack said sarcastically.

Hiccup and Merida blinked blankly at Jack, then at each other.

"Princess?" Hiccup asked.

"Viking?! You _lied_ to me?" Merida yelled. She turned to him, arrow pointed accusingly. Hiccup stuttered and swallowed down his increasing fear.

"Uh, you might want to put that away..." Hiccup started saying. Merida knocked him off his feet and pinned him on the ground, arrow still at the ready.

"Why should I listen to _anythin'_ a lying, little **_Viking_** has to say?" she asked, pointing her bow menacingly at Hiccup's rapidly beating heart.

The next second, Toothless's tail whacked Merida off of his rider. Toothless pounced on Merida and growled. She stumbled back, searching frantically for her weapon that has been knocked out of her hands. Jack gasped as he watched the scene unfold before him.

"Git 'im offa' me!" Merida yelled, outraged. Hiccup, running quickly to his dragon soothed Toothless down.

"I'm sorry. He's just not a huge fan of weapons." Hiccup stated as Toothless gave her the evil-eye.

"I wouldn't so much like having a weapon in my face if I was a fire breathing dragon either." Jack said, as he approached the group. Hiccup gave him an annoyed side glance.

"More or less. And you lied to me too, Princess of DunBroch." Hiccup said, giving Toothless an affectionate scratch.

Merida coughed. "That's different." she sneered.

"It's completely relevant!" Hiccup shot back, "Just because you're a 'high and mighty' princess doesn't mean that nothing applies to you."

Merida stepped forward menacingly. Toothless growled in response, showing his teeth. Merida stepped back, a glimmer of fear flicker on her face for a second. Hiccup noticed that she held herself at the ready in case Toothless decided to attack after all.

Jack took advantage of the two fighting sides silencing. "Look, now that this whole fiasco has been momentarily paused, there is something extremely important that we need to discuss." Jack states. Merida and Hiccup gave him their full attention. "Have 'shadow beasts' ever come and terrorize your dreams?"

Hiccup and Merida stared blankly at him.

"You ask it, as if it happens regularly everyday." Merida exclaimed sarcastically. Merida's attention once again shifted back to Hiccup. How dare he lie to her. She couldn't believe she was almost going to help the enemy. A _Viking!_ What was she thinking?

"Well, it's a serious problem, but you don't have to take my word for it." Jack said grimly, "You need to see this for yourself." He nudged his head to Toothless. Hiccup looked over at Jack, knowing what he wanted, and mounted his friend. Merida looked scornfully at the dragon.

"There is no way I'm gettin' on that thing." she protested. Toothless gave a grunt of agreement. Jack and Hiccup shared and look and Jack gave a small eye roll.

"I've got you, princess." he said, and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Hold on tight."

With Hiccup on Toothless, and Merida now comfortable in Jack's hold rather than on a dragon, Jack took off with Hiccup in tow, on their way to the Kingdom of Corona.


	9. Rapunzel's Nightmare

Rapunzel paced in circles, following the lines of the tiles on the floor. The room was battle struck. She had had a nightmare. It was obvious that the nightmares had gotten in. The gaping crater through the roof of the tower told the story. The nightmares got in and tormented and trapped her in her sleep. She had been in a blizzard, but she couldn't feel cold, or anything for that matter. Not even the ground she was standing on.

She trudged on through the snow as the blizzard collected on her body. Searching in the infinite curtain of frost and hail, her foot bumped something, that almost caused her to fall. She took a long look at the shape heaping out of the snow. Rapunzel knelt down next to it, took her hand and gingerly wiped away the snow.

She screamed horribly at what she uncovered. The bundle in the snow was Eugene himself, transfixed, and white as a sheet. She wrapped her arms around his frozen body, rubbing his hands to create warmth, but it was too late. He was already dead. She heaved out sobs at the sight of him. With her trembling hands, she cupped his frozen face and put her forehead to his as her tear drops fell down on his frost-bitten cheeks.

As her tears froze on Eugene's paralyzed face, a shadow loomed over her. She gasped and griped Eugene tighter, as him he would slip away from her.

"Rapunzel!" cried out Jack Frost. He kneeled down next to her, his eyes wide and wild. He reaches out and takes Rapunzel's shoulders, smiling crazily. "I did it! I did it, Punzie! Now we can together!"

"What?" Rapunzel whispered in shock. Then she suddenly woke up in a cold sweat as a breeze swept over her where she was bundled up in her over stuffed chair. She wiped the tears and sleep from her eyes.

Jack flew through the window. He didn't come alone. A bright red haired girl shoved Jack away. His hands went up in surrender to her objections. Rapunzel was startled when a full blown dragon flew through the gap in the roof. Off demounted a boy, about her age. She gave Jack a questioning look that said, "What the heck is going on?!" He picked up on her message.

"Punzie, I have brought before you, today only, the representatives of DunBroch and Berk." he gestured to the two who on opposite sides of the room from each other. "The kingdoms in which have the same shadow infection." Jack presented.

"And these are the leaders?! They look a little too young to be responsible for an entire kingdom." Rapunzel noticed.

Jack cleared his throat and smoothed his hair, awkwardly.

"Actually, miss, we are the children of those rulers." Hiccup corrected from across the room.

Merida was posted in the kitchen area. "I came here unwillingly, just to add something. The flying guy just plucked me right off the ground! How can he do that?!" she asked Rapunzel. Jack glared over at the kitchen area where Merida was trying to find something good to eat.

Rapunzel, ignoring Merida's question, walked over to Jack. "You mean, they can see you? They believe, in you? I always thought that I was the only one." she noted.

Jack sighed. "I guess both of their kingdoms believe in 'myths' like me." he thought aloud. Rapunzel's eyes widen a little. She hated it when Jack admitted himself to be a 'myth'. Myths usually weren't real and Jack was real. He was real to her.

There came a crash from behind Rapunzel and Jack. Merida had swiped a knife from the kitchen and was attempting to maim Hiccup, with Toothless in persuit of her. Jack flew over, grabbed Merida, and hoisted her into the air. She screamed and struggled in Jacks arms, but dropped the knife.

"Let. Me. GO!" She screamed, trying to pry herself from Jacks grip.

"Only if you promise not to fight!" He argued. Toothless had protectively put himself between Merida and Hiccup. Merida's struggle turned into a squirm, until she gave up.

"Alright, _fine_. Just put me down." She commanded.

"You swear?" Jack said firmly.

"I swear! Put me down!" Merida yelled. So far, if she had her way, she would've destroyed everyone in that room, starting with the wimpy little Viking boy. Jack carefully glided her down the the floor and released Merida. She gave him a dirty look, but gave Hiccup a dirtier one from behind Toothless. Rapunzel grabbed the fallen knife off the ground.

"No more weapons for you." She stated. Merida groaned.

"You sound just like my mother when you say that." She exclaimed.


	10. The Viking vs The Princess

The four teenagers sat awkwardly in the small, round room of the tower. Silence was thick in the air. In the silence, Jack kept a wary eye on Merida and Hiccup, waiting for an attack. But the two kept their distance, with Toothless in the middle to make sure of it. Rapunzel sat back in the overgrown chair where she had her nightmare. She hadn't told Jack about it yet. She just couldn't.

They sat for so long, it soon became night, which brought worry to Jack and Rapunzel, who became tense. The other two hadn't noticed yet. They still had no idea what was going to come. Jack broke the silence by freezing the gap in the roof with his frost. Hiccup jumped at the interruption. He glanced over at Merida to see that she flinched.

Rapunzel cleared her throat. "We have come across a new threat to all of our kingdoms." she said, smoothing out her dress. Everyone sat up in attention. Punzie sighed. "Jack and I," she gestured to Jack, "Have made the discovery of a new danger to us all. One danger who will soon be upon us, for they strike at nightfall." she informed. Merida and Hiccup sat perplexed, waiting for the name of this new powerful hazard. "They are nightmares." Punzie finished.

Merida stared, unbelieving at the princess in front of her. "You mean, the figments of our imagination tha' can only exist in dreams?" she snorted, "I highly doubt that nightmares are what we're dealing with here." she objected.

Rapunzel gave her a serious look. "Nightmares are what did this to my tower. These 'figments of our imagination' made that gaping hole in the ceiling." she thrust her hand towards the roof make her point. Merida just went quiet, crossing her arms. Hiccup spoke up.

"Are you sure it was nightmares who did this? Do you have any proof?" he asked.

"I think it was _his_ kind's dragons that did this." Merida pointed accusingly to Toothless, "It would fit their kind of lifestyle. They're all mindless, sacks of muscle that destroy anything that they can."

"It was not!" Hiccup protested. "Dragons don't behave that way anymore, now that they're trained." Hiccup and Merida had launched themselves into a evil stare contest.

"Oh please. 'Hey, look at us! We've managed to train the most untrainable species in the world! And there's no way that anything can get past us, because we are so _so_ mighty!'" Merida mimicked.

Hiccup glared at her. "You should talk. _Your_ kind wouldn't know a thing about difficult tasks because you're all sitting pretty in you're palaces, waiting for your next shipment of gold." he scoffed. Merida was ready to go over to him and punch his round, freckled nose into his skull, but Jack interrupted.

"_Enough._ We saw what we saw. That's it. Keep your petty insults to yourself. We should put aside our differences and figure out how to defend ourselves." he exclaimed.

"Thank you, Jack." Rapunzel nodded her approval. Merida, frustrated, turned her back to Hiccup's direction. "Now, I think it's fit for you to experience the nightmare's strike, so you can treat the issue with more urgency." she reasoned.

"I'm up for it." Hiccup chimed in.

"Because he has a dragon to hide behind." Merida mumbled.

"Just let it go, okay?" Jack asked. "Since we are now a team, we have to be on level ground to have each other's backs." he said.

"I never agreed to this." Merida stated. "I want to have no part of this. In fact, I'm leaving. And there's no one who can stop me. Why should it be my bloody problem? I've never had a nightmare come and attack my kingdom, so why should I listen to you three?" she said, getting up and walking over to the secret trap door which now had a handle attached to it. "I'm guessin' this is the exit?" she said. Not waiting for an answer, she thrust the door open, and slammed it shut on her way out.

"I suppose I should go after her?" Jack asked Rapunzel.

"No. This isn't a mandatory thing. Everyone has a right to leave." She turned to look at Hiccup, who was still rooted to his spot. "Still staying?"

He nodded. "This is important to me." he simply said.

A few seconds later, the beams on the ceilings started to quake. Jack gripped his staff for precaution. "Looks like they're here." he said, uneasily.

Rapunzel gasped. "Merida's outside!" she exclaimed.

"Unarmed!" Hiccup added.


	11. Will of the Wisps

Merida struggled through the dense patches of the forest. The sky had become noticeably dark and cloudy.

Rain? Perhaps that is what got the princess all riled up. Simply explained storm damage. _Well, if there's going to be a storm, it's going to be big._ Merida thought. She kept going through the trees looking for a path to follow.

Thunder clapped after the bright light of lightning tore up the sky as buckets shed from the heavens which made Merida anxious to find shelter. Which ever way she went, and how far she went, there were still endless trees. Merida stood still and searched around her to find her bearings. Still the wonderful scenery of forestry. She groaned and sat down on the damp grass. She couldn't go the way she came to the tower because she didn't know where that was or where she was.

More thunder sliced through silence and Merida hugged her knees. A gust of wind tore through her red hair forcing her head the direction it was going towards. There, in the utter darkness making Merida squint was a wisp. It's blue tint shined dimly of Merida's face, reflecting in her evenly blue eyes. She sat motionless until it disappeared, revealing a path of beckoning spirits.

Merida stood up and followed the path curiously looking left and right and upwards to feel the drops of rain drop on her freckles. She increased her pace, eager to see where her fate would take her. She came through a clearing and stared disappointment at the destination.

_Back to that blasted tower? What good would that do, goin' back there? There's a reason I left._ she thought as she trudged to the entrance.

Merida watched the wisps as she climbed the added stairs up the length of the tower. There was rustling and banging coming from the top of the stairs.

_Just them preparing for the "nightmares" more. Can't they see that it's all in their heads?_ Merida imagined the three all helping each other like a bunch of happy elves, passing furniture to make a giant barricade.

But, when Merida reached the trap door, the noise ceased and all was still. She heaved the hatch open and made sure to close it behind her gently to make no sound. She saw the viking, Hiccup by Rapunzel and Jack. They were on the ground, completely asleep. The dragon wasn't around, probably outside to stretch it's wings. Merida strode over.

_Better wake them up to let them know I'm here._ she thought. Merida nudged Hiccup with her foot.

"Psst. PSST. Viking, wake up," she whispered. He stayed where he was. "Oh, come on. I know you're faking. You just don't want to talk. Hiccup." Merida nudged him again, "Hiccup." About twenty more times of doing this, she was losing patience with the boy. So, she went to drastic measures. She brought her foot back and full blown kicked him in the gut. He didn't stir. She was beginning to worry. Merida looked bewildered at him. She quickly got down and turned him over. His pale face turned upward. It exposed a gash in his neck. The young Viking was dead.

Merida dropped him in surprise and cupped her mouth, stifling a scream and vomit. She went over a jabbed at Rapunzel. She turned her over and revealed the same mark. She tried Jack, but knew what the outcome was. She dropped the body and stepped back. She was shaking where she stood. Merida smoothed out her hair, trying to regain control of herself and think clearly.

Gash in the neck. Three of them. Rapunzel. Princess. Jack. Jack Frost. Controls winter. Hiccup. Dragon rider. The dragon. Natural killer.

"The dragon." Merida breathed. As she spoke, she felt a presence glide behind her. A growl arose from the creature. Merida turned around slowly and stared, horrified, defenseless at the towering beast as it crept along the ground with bared, red teeth.

He got into a fighting stance and expanded it's wings. He appeared to be twice the size of her. He was death staring Merida in the face. She shrunk and watched helplessly at the monster in front of her. Her eyes flicked over to the three people who were alive the last time she was in the tower. He lunged his jaws at her which made her panic and stumble backwards. It took it's claw and caught Merida's throat, pinning her against the floor. She tried desperately to get out of it's grasp, but he was much stronger than her.

The monster bared it's teeth menacingly and opened it's jaw, igniting the flames at the back of it's throat.

**Authors note: **

**Hiya! It warms my heart at the 2 comments I have cheering the story on. -sniff sniff- You guys rock!**

**Well, if you think the story's good now...pfft! You're in for a real treat!**

**That's it for now! Comment and stuff. Thank you!**


	12. And Now It's Over

Sunlight.

Merida opened her eyes to Jack and Hiccup over her, each holding a wrist. She squinted at the harsh light that shone over her. She sputtered and stared at Jack, then Hiccup. Merida pulled her wrists from their grip.

"Oh, Gods. I'm dead. I'm dead and you're dead." she began to panic, taking in her surroundings and at the people in front of her. "And tha-that thing is still out there, loose! Oh God, oh God." Merida finally fell to her knees and sobbed from fear. Jack got down and brought his arm around her, giving Hiccup a questioning look which Hiccup shrugged. Jack brought the broken Merida to face him.

"Look. Merida, look at me. I don't know what you saw, but you have to forget it. It was just a nightmare. Do you understand?" he said urgently. "It wasn't real. You're not dead. It was all a horrible nightmare." Merida's eyes widened as she came to her senses. She looked around. The two were sitting in the clearing in front of the secret entrance to the tower. Merida then looked back at Jack and pushed him away.

"I-I don't understand." she began.

"We went out looking for you. It took a while to get out here, but when we did, you were just standing there looking at us. But when we got near, you lashed out." Hiccup said, sitting next to them.

Merida looked at Hiccup, then around her again. Everything was dry. She felt her face. It was soaked with tears. She wiped them away, embarrassed. She tried to sooth the shakiness in her voice.

"Where's Rapunzel?" she asked, shivering, despite the warmth of the sun on her back.

"She's okay. She's back in the tower with Toothless." Hiccup said. Merida looked at him, thought on what he said, jumped up in a split second and ran frantically to the tower. Jack and Hiccup ran to follow her.

"No, no, no, no." Merida said as she raced up the steps of the tower. She heaved the door open and scrambled to her feet. She saw Rapunzel picking up things off the floor. Jack and Hiccup came up the stairs after her. When she glanced over and saw Merida, she rushed over.

"Oh my gosh. Are you okay? You look terrible. I was so worried when you left and the nightmares attacked. What happened?" Rapunzel pelted her with questions, rushing her over to a chair and sitting her down.

Toothless was curled up at the landing in front of Rapunzel's bedroom. When Merida saw him up there, she let out a scream. Everyone jumped. Merida's scream woke Toothless from his cat nap and his eyes were on her. Merida wasted no time. She grabbed what was at reach, which was a book, and chucked it at Toothless. He swooped away from where he was laying and leaped to the floor. Hiccup came in to stop Toothless as Rapunzel and Jack were holding Merida back.

"Let go of me! That beast needs to go back to the depths of hell." she screamed, pointing a menacing finger at Toothless.

"Stop! Stop it! Both of you." Hiccup yelled to Merida and Toothless who was screeching at her. Hiccup put up a calming hand to the dragon's snout who slugged back to where he once slept. Hiccup spun to see Merida. What he saw was a confused, frightened little girl, not the fearless warrior who attacked him in the forest.

"You don't understand. That thing is going to kill all of us! I've seen it happen already. It's only a matter of time until he attacks all of us." She exclaimed. Merida snapped her arms away from Rapunzel and Jack's grip.

"What do you mean, you've seen it happen already?" Jack asked, turning Merida to face him. Merida stared at him and then at the other two who were questioning her. She sighed.

"In that dream that you woke me from. A storm came, and wisps led me back to the tower. I came in and saw you all dead. Then the dragon came after me. It was about to tear into me before I woke up." she explained.

"I know how you feel," Rapunzel spoke up. She turned to Jack. "When you left, the nightmares came in and tortured me in my mind. I didn't want to tell you because it was hard for me," she returned her gaze to Merida. "I know the feeling of being played with like that." she walked over and tenderly gripped Merida's shoulders. "But you can't let it get to you. It wasn't real and now it's over. You need to wake up." she instructed.

Merida shook what was in her mind, but those images were hard to lose. She sat back for a while but soon got a grip on reality. Rapunzel, however moved away and grasped the shelves of her book case. Jack came over to her.

"You okay?" he asked. Rapunzel sniffed, turned to meet his gaze and nodded. "Come on, Punzie. What's eating you?" he asked. Rapunzel's lips quivered and he embraced her in a hug.

"It's that nightmare I had. It's coming back into mind." Rapunzel said, her voice muffled in Jack's brown shawl. Jack rested his cheek against Rapunzel's head.

"Why not tell me about it? It might make you feel better." Jack whispered to her, bringing her chin up to meet her eyes which were hidden by her eyelids.

She hesitated. "Later. I-in private." Jack nodded and looked over to the two strangers on opposite sides of the room. Merida kept giving Toothless nervous glances, while Hiccup was adjusting his dragon's tail mechanism. Rapunzel took Jack's hand and she lead him up to her old room.

When behind the safety of the curtain, Jack began.

"So, what is the nightmare?" he asked her tenderly. Rapunzel took a deep breath and began.

"I was in the middle of a snow storm. I was completely lost and I couldn't see anything." she started to tremble a little, recalling the next event. "And then I tripped over something in the snow and when I uncovered what it was, it was Eugene. He was dead." Jack was stunned. He knew how much Eugene meant to her. He couldn't say he wasn't a little jealous of him, but he always respected her wishes. "And then, you came and you had this weird look on your face. You kept saying things like, 'We can be together forever, now.' It scared me so much."

"I'm so sorry. But I have to let you know, I had nothing to do with that. I swear." He held his right hand in the air. "You know me. So you know that I would never do something like that. Like you said, It wasn't real and now it's over." Jack reassured. She pulled him back in to hug her. Jack hugged her tightly, but couldn't shake the deep pitted anger for the nightmares. They knew exactly which button to push to make a person go crazy and it irked him.

When they came back into reality, they saw that they were alone in the tower.


	13. So Dead

Hiccup took Merida down the steps of the tower. They both blinked in the harsh sunlight. When their eyes focused, Toothless appeared in front of the them. Merida stepped back with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Look, Viking. I don't know what you're planning," Hiccup set his hands on her shoulder and used the other hand to present the dragon properly.

"Merida. Toothless. Toothless. Merida." He stopped for Merida to say something but got awkward silence. "Now that we have formalities done with, let's get started with getting over your fear." he exclaimed. Merida looked at him.

"Why? I don't need to 'get to know' it, and I'm certainly not scared of him." she protested. Hiccup nudged her towards Toothless. She watched the dragon with wide fearful eyes.

"Well, now that the five of us: me, you, Rapunzel, Jack, and Toothless, are now a team, we have to have each other's back. Now mount Toothless." he stated. She looked at Toothless, then back at him.

"Yer crazy if you think I'm gettin' on that thing." she stated. Hiccup came from behind her and went over to the dragon.

"Then I must be insane then." he joked. Merida returned the comment with a glare.

"Very funny." she sneered. Hiccup extended a hand to help Merida get on. She hesitantly took it.

With Hiccup and Merida both seated on Toothless, they sat there for a while. "What now?" Merida asked, looking around for something other than Hiccup to grab onto to keep her balance. Toothless heard her and extended his wings. Hiccup patted him to take off. Toothless started flapping his wings and had a light, relaxing take off. Hiccup was surprised at him.

With Merida looking around her, enjoying the feel of flying, Hiccup leaned back. "I'm surprised. He's usually pretty cruel with a girl riding him." he was of course referring to Astrid, whom had a tough first ride on Toothless.

"I guess he might like me." Merida assumed, relaxed, being used to riding her horse Angus around all her spare time.

Toothless soared in the sky over the forest, then over the sea. Hiccup looked around, then back at Toothless. "Where are you going, bud? We can't go home yet." he said. The dragon rumbled a response, and made a sudden stop above the water. The dragon made no move to turn around.

"What happened? Is something wrong?" Merida asked, taking in the surroundings. Hiccup turned.

"I don't know what he's doing. He's never done this bef-" Then Toothless heaved upward, taking the two riders by surprise. This all hit Hiccup like dèjá vú. Toothless continued flying around, bucking around as if trying to throw the two off his back. Hiccup obviously couldn't be thrown off because of his newly modified harness, connecting him to his seat. Merida, however, flew into the air, flailing and screaming as she went, down in the water below. Hiccup watched in horror as Merida plummeted into the water, screaming all the way down, clawing at the air for something to grasp onto. Hiccup also sat on Toothless, now calm, as Merida surfaced the water and gave him the evil eye.

"You little Viking _brat_! How _dare_ you do this to me!" She cursed and spat at Hiccp as he guided Toothless over to her.

"Here, let me help you-" he said reaching his hand to help her get up from the water but she swatted it away.

"Don't bother. You'll only humiliate me more. Fly away, you wasp." She swatted the two away. Hiccup brought his hand back quickly and soared higher into the sky and rushed towards land, leaving Merida to swim back to shore.

On the flight back to the tower, Hiccup scolded Toothless.

"Toothless! What in Oden's name made you act like that? We're supposed to be nice to team members. Bad dragon." he said all the way. The two landed on the roof of the tower. When Hiccup walked in the room, he saw Jack alone.

"Where's Rapunzel?" Hiccup asked. Jack looked up from what he was doing.

"She went back to her palace to check up on things. She does have a kingdom to run on top of this, you know." Jack pointed out. Hiccup nodded and looked away waiting for the question he didn't want to answer. It came anyway.

"What happened to Merida? Didn't she go out when you left?" he asked.

Hiccup cleared his throat. "Yeah. About that. There was sort of an accident." he started.

"What did you do?"

"What do you mean, what did I do? I didn't do anything." Hiccup objected.

"Well, if the Scottish girl is mad, then it would probably be the cause of a Viking, her sworn enemy." Jack declared. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"I'll have you know, it wasn't me. It was Toothless." Hiccup defended himself.

"Oh sure. Blame the animal. What is it that Toothless did?" Jack questioned. Hiccup looked at the ground.

"Uh. He um-kind of...threw her into the ocean while we were riding." He confessed. Silence set in after he said it.

"Oh man. You are so dead." Jack laughed, flying away.

From where Hiccup was standing, the trap door entrance creaked open, revealing a soaking wet Merida.


	14. Kingdoms at War

Merida approached Hiccup with the look of hell in her eyes. Her teeth bared as she suppressed her fury to stop from punching him in the face. Jack was watching from the second story landing in amusement.

"Hey there gorgeous. Back from the black lagoon?" Jack asked sarcastically. Merida snapped her head around in his direction.

"Shut it," she exclaimed. Jack held up his hands in surrender. Merida then turned her rage towards Hiccup and stormed over to him.

"Okay, but what happened wasn't me. I would never do that! It was Toothless. He does stuff like that all the time. I don't know what got into him, but it wasn't my fault!"

Merida scowled at Hiccup. "How do I know that you didn't speak secret dragon language to it and commanded it to throw me?" she persisted.

"You don't. You really can't know at times like this. You really can't." Jack cut in.

"You know, you're really aren't helping." Hiccup growled. Jack gave a smirk and flew down to handle any fight out breaks.

There was a thud as the trapdoor was lifted open and Rapunzel stepped out.

"Well? Any news?" he questioned.

"Hmm. Well," she started hesitantly looking away.

"Anything wrong?" Merida asked.

"Corona's been called to battle," Rapunzel replied.

"What? Where?" Jack asked.

"We've been called to arms to DunBroch. Since we have a truce with the island, Corona supplies them with weapons. In return, they protect us from the Vikings." she explained.

"Right. I remember that treaty. And you were over once to the island, weren't you?" Merida chirped up.

"Yes. I did. But now I have to go over there for royal business. I think that we all should go. Just in case we can do something to help," Rapunzel suggested.

"DunBroch? I don't think it's a good idea that I go." Hiccup protested.

"Yeah. He might get in the way of everything. And scare everyone to death with that dragon of his too." Merida muttered.

"We're all going. It's decided." Jack said, gesturing back to Rapunzel.

"Right. Thank you. So, the fastest way to there would be to fly, but I'm traveling with my family, so Merida, if you would be so kind to join Hiccup on Toothless..."

"Oh no. There's no way I'm getting on that thing again!" Merida burst out. "He could have killed me last time and I'm not offering him a second chance. Jack will just have to carry me again."

Rapunzel looked to Jack for a response to which he raised his eyebrows and put his hands up. "I have no objections. Just that she doesn't try to strangle me." he exclaimed.

Merida passed over to Jack and hopped onto his back. "I'll try my hardest, sir." she said with corny elegance, her impersonation for her mother.

"Off you go then. I need to take care of something." Rapunzel said, "I'll be right back." And they all took off, leaving her behind. Before she left for her own ride, she jogged up the stairs to her old bedroom. She approached her desk and moved it gently to the side. It uncovered her own special mural of Eugene. She painted it herself after he had died. It wasn't as grand as the portrait of him in the castle's square, but this one gave her more comfort. She took her hand and stroked the wall along the paint strokes. She leaned up against it and said, "I miss you." she then set the desk back in place, and rushed out to meet her parents at the docks.

Flying over the water, reflecting the setting sun, Jack could see miles and miles ahead of them. It wasn't long before he was flying over a battle zone. He could even feel Merida tense when she saw her people in battle. Jack tried not to put any unwanted attention to the three of them. That would be difficult, considering if anyone were to look up now, they would see the Princess of DunBroch flying in the clear air.

Once Rapunzel arrived at the castle of DunBroch, she attended the conference of the rulers. She waited patiently for the others to arrive and felt relieved when she felt a cool blast of wintry air hit the window, making the glass frosty. She hurried over and let the two inside. Merida seemed thrilled to be back on her own land.. Rapunzel smoothed out her hair and looked at her mess.

"Okay, Merida, you're supposed to be somewhere outside. So, you'll probably want to come in through the front doors. Jack can take you down there." she started.

"I'll join you downstairs." Merida said. Rapunzel nodded and hurried back down to retrieve the boys from Moddie. Merida sauntered through the big doors. She was instantly greeted by her parents, who stopped mid conversation with the royals of Corona.

Eleanor was the first to react. "Where have you been? We were waiting forever! I was worried sick about you." the queen noticed the missing weapons from her daughter's back, "Where's you bow and arrows gone?" She asked as she looked Merida over for wounds.

"Mom. I'm fine. My bow just got...separated from me. But I'm not hurt in any way," Merida reassured her mother.

"Oh hush," Eleanor waved off. "Your bow was taken? Blasted Vikings. Taking whatever they want with their brutal, barbaric strength. Not a caring muscle in their body. Fergus. Our little girl was approached by those barbarians!"

"Let the lass be, Eleanor. She's alright. But there'll be no more fighting for you young missy. I'll be doing the avenging around here." Fergus exclaimed.

"So you've been out before I came?" Merida wondered.

"Oh a few times. Those dragons are a beast of burden and the riders show no mercy. And get this. The riders are kids." He said.

A guard burst in. "I am sorry to disrupt you, my king. But there's some commotion coming from the south tower."

Fergus snapped his head toward the guard. "I'll lead the brigade," he said then turned to the royals of Corona and his family. "You should all go somewhere safe. A team will lead you all underground. Just in case any dragons get in. If you would," He gestured toward the cellar doors.

"Of course. Thank you." The king of Corona thanked. Then put one arm around his wife and guided her to the steps. The queen of DunBroch followed behind them and turned her attention to her daughter.

"Well?"

"I need to get something from my room. I'll be just a minute." Merida exclaimed. She hurried off before her parents could say another word. Merida skipped up the stairs, two at a time, running into the princess of Corona.

"Merida! Something's wrong." Rapunzel said in a hushed tone.

_Yeesh. Everything is going wrong today it seems._ Merida thought grumpily as she followed Rapunzel back down to the main floor.

"It's Hiccup," Rapunzel explained.

"What? Has that runt gone mad? Doesn't he know it's dangerous to be out here in the middle of a war?" Merida exclaimed and she and Rapunzel head for a secret outdoor opening in the back of the castle. "How-how did you manage to find this place?"

"Your brothers ran away and they led me here to get off of their tracks." Rapunzel replied. They both noticed Hiccup saddling up Toothless.

"Uh. Where do you think you're going?" Merida asked.

"Leaving. I'm not wanted here so I'm joining my fleet." He said as he adjusted Toothless's tail.

"Only to attack us? No. You're staying here so we can figure out what's going on with these 'shadows.'" Merida objected.

"This is bigger than all of us so we need to stay together." Rapunzel ran over to Hiccup and made him stop working, "This isn't about some petty feud between two civilizations. This is about the nightmares. It's power is controlling all of us. If only we could overcome it-"

"Exactly." Merida interrupted, "As much as it pains me to say this, we must form a truce _for now_ until this whole nightmare mess is sorted out." Hiccup gave her a glare and then looked to Toothless, who shared the same look. "I'm serious." Merida extended her hand to him with a determined look planted in her eye.

"Alright. A truce." Hiccup shook the princess's hand. "For now."

Rapunzel stood at a loss of words. Hiccup and Merida's hands dropped when there came a rusty creaking sound of the door to the secret outdoor hideout opened. Unexpectedly, the three heads of Hubert, Harris and Hamish poked out. Merida stared down at her brothers, completely mortified as she saw their eyes scan upward to the dragon. The triplet's eyes went as huge as dinner plates and who was to follow them to the door but a stout lady with an enormous chest muttering curses under her breath as she chased the troublesome three. Moddie reached the triplets and was about to chew them up, but noticed their attention and spotted Hiccup and the dragon.

"Moddie," Merida eased towards the panicking maid, "Moddie, settle down."

But her prayers weren't answers, for Moddie had begun to scream, flying up the stairs. "The dragons have gotten in!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "The dragons have gotten in!"


	15. The Shadows Attack

Merida rolled her eyes as Moddie ran screaming away from them. Hiccup stood there confused while watching the stout woman run through the hallway in a frenzy. Merida ran after Moddie through the secret door.

"Go. Go!" Merida commanded to the others.

"Those are my friends and family out there. I need to go out there and help them." Hiccup said, putting a hand on Toothless. Merida scowled at him before running off again.

Rapunzel nodded and moved over to the window. "You sure you'll be alright?"

"Yes. Now go." Hiccup said delicately to the princess.

Rapunzel took the gesture and took off running into the threshold. There had to be a way out of the secret outdoor garden? Right?

Suddenly, a memory flashed before her eyes. She was running through the summer air on her way to her freedom. Eugene and she were about to go out on an adventure to see the lanterns. She had her doubts about leaving. In fact, she was in a constant battle with herself. She could have turned back, but she didn't. She was determined to reach her dream.

Now she must muster the same courage to fight the battle against the Nightmares. But hopefully she wouldn't have to face it alone.

Just then, she felt a little cold breeze overhead. Looking up, she saw Jack smiling down at her.

"You look a little lost, Punzie!" he called after her, "Need some help?"

Jack landed in front of her, the ground around him swirling with frost. "That would be great, Jack. Thank you."

He bowed, placing a hand over his heart. "I would be honored to assist you." He smiled at her before scooping her up into the air. He held tightly to her as they rose. His hands were strong but gentle. His eyes held a sort of determined look in them. Rapunzel knew she wouldn't be alone anymore. She had Jack, and he was all she needed.

With Hiccup alone with Toothless soaring over the battlefield, he watched as the scene played out before him. He saw Vikings and Scots battling for blood and territory. There were a surplus of victims laying wounded or dead on the field. He noticed dragons swarming over the Scots' heads as the dove, taking prisoners. Hiccup saw the red-headed princess fighting off the Vikings with her sword.

Along with the chaos, Scots were armed with fiery catapults pointed at the dragons and their riders. The balls of fire tore through the air, leaving smoke trails as it went. Sometimes, it'd hit its target, but dragon riders were too smart. Hiccup had taught them all well. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice behind him. Hiccup turned and saw a large brown Gronckle with an equally large, blonde, rider.

"Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked hopefully. Thankfully, Hiccup's viking friend sped up to meet him.

"Hiccup!" he exclaimed, "We were all wondering where you went! We haven't seen you since the beginning of the raid. I thought you were captured for a while."

"Me? Oh no. Just thought I would take a few shots at the castle before everyone. You know, for a taste of the war the was coming." Hiccup lied a little too awkwardly. Fishlegs ignored the rareness of a comment like that from Hiccup and got back on his dragon.

"All of us are meeting in the grand hall of the castle to regroup." Fishlegs said, giving Meatlug a friendly pat, "These Scots are putting up quite the fight, but we're stronger!" A fire ball tore at them, causing them to split in the middle.

"Woah, Toothless!" Hiccup leaned farther to the left. He nearly fell off his saddle before Toothless corrected himself. Fishlegs flew farther away from Hiccup, so not to make an easier target for them.

"We all came up in the boats. There was a battle on the beach, but we flooded them with waves and waves of people. Then, we went ahead of the foot team for defense, then got directions to come here." He said as though he was describing an everyday morning. "That's how we got here. We've already got men on the inside!"

"Where's Astrid?" Hiccup yelled over to Fishlegs. Fishlegs shrugged.

"Just wait until we meet up!" With that, Meatlug dove down to join the other dragons on the field. Hiccup nodded before joining the Vikings in the battle against their enemies. Hiccup hadn't been in a battle as intense like this since he was fighting off the dreaded Red Death, the mother of all dragons. He had been so terrified of it since he found the dragon's nest. And, if it weren't for Toothless, he would probably be dead. He's just glad he and Toothless survived without any major damages, besides his leg missing.

Fishlegs was right. The Scots put up quite a fight. There barbaric nature could almost match the Vikings. But they were no match for the Viking's new companions, the dragons. The Scots had no idea what to do when the dragons swooped down and captured them. They tried jabbing at their bellies, or swung massive hammers to knock their wings aside, but nothing helped. Soon, the Vikings successfully stormed the castle. The battle was over.

At least, that's what Hiccup thought.

Joining the other Vikings in the castle, he looked around as the main hallway wall ended and opened into a ginormous circled room. Long tables were barricaded against the equally ginormous front oak doors. And at the back of the room, Stoick the Vast was sitting comfortably it what appeared to be Merida's father's throne. Near the throne sat a Deadly Nadder named Stormfly. By her side was her rider, Astrid, brushing her hand down her spikes. Astrid looked up and smiled when she saw Hiccup.

Hiccup smiled back and waved politely. Stoick saw Hiccup as well and strode over to him. He looked flustered.

"Where have you been? I've sent out crews looking for you. Where'd you run off to?" he demanded furiously.

"I was here. I wanted to help in the attack and, since you're so worried about my capabilities all the time, I decided not to tell you." Hiccup defended.

Stoick let a frustrated sigh. "Hiccup. I don't have time for this. I was worried about you, son."

Hiccup scowled, "I was just fine. I had Toothless with me the whole time. You don't need to worry about me so much."

"It's my job to be worried about the future chief-" Stoick was interrupted by a great force beating up against the giant oak doors. All eyes turned toward the commotion. The sound came again after a beat. Someone or something was trying to get in. Stoick abandoned the chat with his son and turned to bark orders to the only Viking still sitting down.

"Gobber! Get off your stool and secure the door!" he commanded. But he spoke too late. Through the door came something that frightened every soul in the room. Nightmares. Vikings watched in a mix of horror and confusion as the nightmares barged in. The dragons seemed to be malfunctioning, as was Toothless. Hiccup ran for his friend and attempted to push him to a safe place. With his back turned, Hiccup failed to see what the nightmares were doing. Usually, nightmares were morphed, fluid like spirits with no shape, but a screech from the dragons made Hiccup turn around. There, coming through the doorway, was the head of the most feared dragon in Viking history. Red Death.

Hiccup's knees gave way and he dropped to the floor. Toothless saw his rider was down and protectively stepped over him, growling at the nightmare Red Death. From the ground, Hiccup weakly looked up to see the older Vikings attacking it up close. Hiccup shook his head to get his senses back.

_This isn't the actual Red Death. This isn't the actual Rad Death._

Hiccup thought over and over. He brought his arms up and got into a crouch. He looked at the figure clearly. It was the shadows in Red Death's form. Their color difference gave them away. It was manifesting off the dragon's terrifying leader. Hiccup noticed that the Vikings were battering helplessly at the head. He saw the solution.

"Close the door!" he shouted at no one in particular. His Viking friends heard him and ran along the wall towards the door to avoid the heavily equipped Vikings taking on the form head on. Astrid moved toward Hiccup and helped him up. Hiccup had fully regained the feeling of his legs and ran to help his friends. Seeing the children working at closing off the dragon, the other Vikings got the idea and helped. It took everyone in the room to close the door without the dragon's help. But the door closed and the nightmares evaporated on the spot. The Vikings stood panting then went to make their barricade stronger. Hiccup thought about the others and walked over to his dad.

"Do you know if there's a cellar anywhere?" he asked.

Stoick gave him a confused look. "You know you're not old enough to drink, son." he said.

"I know! I just thought that I could pass out some drinks for the other Vikings." Hiccup recovered.

Stoick seemed too tired to object and like he needed a drink so he nodded. "Aye. Just be quick and keep an eye out." he panted.

"I'll bring Toothless." Hiccup said. Stoick gestured to the direction of the cellar. Hiccup mounted Toothless and set off.


	16. The Kingdom That Fell

Merida was battling those blasted Vikings left and right. They kept coming at her mercilessly, swinging their axes, and swords; trying to jab at her and catch her off her guard. The dragons were no help to her either.

Merida knew little about dragons, having never paid any attention to her mother's lessons. These were Norwegian dragons, she doubted they were any similar to Scottish dragons. The dragons swarmed around the land, firing their scorching, hot, breath on her comrades fighting around her. Anger flared deep within her whenever a dragon was close enough to kill her. She made a mental note to take down that monster that stubborn Hiccup calls a friend.

Merida battled on and on until she noticed her father rumbling towards.

"This is a losing battle, lass! Go with your mother to the tunnels!" the Bear King bellowed.

"I'm not goin' to run! I'm going to fight with you!" Merida snarled. Fergus shook his head.

"Now is not the time, Merida! The Vikings are close to taking over the castle, and if they do, I want to know you and your mother are safe." Fergus looked down at his daughter with pleading eyes. Merida looked between her father and the battle raging on. He was right, the Vikings were advancing. They would soon subdue her father to give up his throne. They would probably torture him in the process. Merida felt a pang behind her eyes, threatening tears.

"F-Fine. I need to find the Princess of Corona." Merida swallowed down her doubt and took off running. As if on cue, she saw the white haired boy carry the princess overhead to the battle field. She called out to them from below. She was lucky Jack had great hearing.

"What's the problem, Mer?" Jack asked, setting Rapunzel down next to him.

"The Vikings are advancing," Merida said urgently, "We need to get Punzie to safety while we still can. Jack, you can come with us to the tunnels." Jack nodded as they followed Merida back the way they came. The Queen was waiting impatiently with Rapunzel's family.

"There you are!" Eleanor ran and kissed her daughter repeatedly on the forehead. Merida tried her hardest to push her mother away. "You have Rapunzel, good. We have to hurry."

Just like that, they all followed Queen Eleanor, holding the lantern that granted light in the otherwise pitch black tunnels. Merida kept glancing back to Rapunzel and her family through the passage way. Eleanor wouldn't stop apologizing to the Corona royalty, but Merida reminded her that they knew they were coming during a war.

Merida had not seen the tunnels ever before. Neither had Eleanor. That was why the boys were leading the party. They knew every inch of the castle and liked causing mischief by using their secret tunnels daily. Quite suddenly, Harris, Hubert, and Hamish came to a stop. They pointed towards an old door with fire light peeking through the cracks. Eleanor stepped out of the way and quietly ushered everyone through the door. The were outside, the sun was setting low and the sky was dotted with stars. Moddie was there with two carriages that were planned for their escape.

"What's been happening so far, Moddie?" Queen Eleanor looked over her shoulders and spoke in a hushed tone to the maid.

"The last I saw was that there was a dragon on the grounds... A big, black thing. So, I ran away and that's when the Vikings stormed the castle." Eleanor placed a hand on her lips when she heard the devastating news. "The King came to me and ordered me to keep you all safe." Moddie eyed the royals pitifully before opening up the DunBroch family's carriage.

Rapunzel stayed behind as her parents got safely into their carriage after Moddie opened it for them. She turned to Jack.

"Cover us. Come back when we're a good distance. Then find Hiccup and get him back to the tower. He's still a part of the team." she said quietly, eyeing the red haired maiden. Jack nodded and sat on the top of the Corona family's carriage, facing the burning, dragon pillaged, DunBroch. He held his staff out in defense and scanned the sky for nightmares or rogue dragons.

Meanwhile, Merida sat with Moddie on the opposite side of the Queen and the triplets. She looked out of her window at the trailing car. She noticed Jack sitting on top.

_We left one of our team behind._ she thought. Then she shook her head. _No. This isn't a game. We are not a team._ She was determined to stay strong. Keep her wits about her. For her family. For DunBroch.

She thought about her terrifying fall into the water. All because of the dragon and that-

"Viking." Merida accidentally said out loud. Queen Eleanor looked up from the piece of fabric she was sewing into to keep her mind occupied from the troubling times. "What was that dear?" she asked.

"Nothing." she said, then sighed. "It's just, why are Vikings so infuriating?" she asked.

"That's just how they are. The lot of them. They're raised to be barbarians since they were born. They're hard, selfish, and cruel." She ended the conversation with that.

Merida continued to think about Vikings in general. They took women for slave wives. They pillaged countless places. And yet are granted with the upper hand of dragons to further cause pain. And they had her home and possibly her father. Nothing made sense. Merida leaned her against the padding of the seat and allowed the stretch of the road to lull her to sleep.

Moving cautiously through the cellar, Hiccup searched the area for a way out. Toothless wasn't being much of a help, sniffing all the barrels of wine and whiskey.

"Hey you." A voice said behind Hiccup, making him jump.

"Oh, Astrid. It's only you." Hiccup smiled.

"Only me? We don't talk for more than a day, thanks to you going missing, and you can only say that 'It's only you'?" she asked playfully.

"Right. Sorry." Hiccup apologized and turned back to searching the room. Astrid walked around to block his way. Surprisingly, he was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. She tucked her hands behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked plainly.

"Trying to look for a way out of here." Hiccup said. "There has to be a secret door somewhere."

"Oh. Of course, the war. So, you think Scottish were hiding here?" she wondered, letting her eyes wander the walls for a door of Hiccups description.

"Yeah. And I'm going that way. Just, don't tell my dad." he said.

"What? Why? He's the Chief. He has to know stuff like this. And he especially needs to know where you are." she said as-a-matter-or-factly.

Hiccup only heard the last thing she said and sighed. "You can tell him whatever you want. I, on the other hand, am leaving." he said.

"Where are you going to go?" she asked.

Toothless sniffed a barrel and, liking the smell of it, wagged his tail across the floor, causing it to smash up against the wall. It collapsed, revealing a hollow air space. Hiccup slyly raised an eyebrow at Astrid and ran through into the space.

They went along carefully, taking in the environment. There wasn't enough wing room to fly, or a high enough ceiling to bound at full speed, so they waked feebly. There, of course, was no light, so Toothless had to give off a blast every second or so. They stopped when a familiar blue glow met them halfway through the tunnel, followed by a wintry breeze.

"Hiccup, glad I caught you." Jack's chipper voice rang out into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked.

"Rapunzel wants me to escort you back to the tower." he said. "I would've came to get you through the throne room but everyone was missing, so I looked everywhere for you."

"Hiccup, who're you talking to?" Astrid asked quietly. Jack fully acknowledged the blonde behind his Viking friend. He narrowed his eyes at the Viking girl, looking blindly around the room.

"Jack, I need you back on Earth, bud." Hiccup waved his hand in front of the guardian's face.

"O-oh, yeah," Jack stammered, forgetting about Astrid, "I'm escorting you and Toothless back to the tower for a little pow-wow. Sound like a plan?" Hiccup looked back at Toothless and nodded. "The exit is up there," Jack pointed to the ceiling, "Think you can make it?"

Merida awoke in a cabin. She sat up and looked around, confused. Light filtered through the door, Merida could see from where she was sitting. There was stress in the boards in front of her door so she laid back down and pretended to sleep.

She felt hard tapping at her shoulder. She opened her eyes a crack to see Rapunzel. She dropped her sleeping act and sat up.

"What is it?" she asked, rubbing her stiff neck.

"We're nearly to Corona. That carriage ride took nearly all night because we took the long way around the island. Jack and Hiccup are meeting us at the tower." Rapunzel said quickly.

"Wait. Why are we going to Corona?" Merida asked.

"Merida, DunBroch has been completely taken over by the Vikings. Everyone fled. Your dad's on his way on another ship, but he's safe." she informed her. "I'm sorry."

Merida stared wide-eyed at her. "I-It's completely gone?" she whispered.

Rapunzel nodded slightly and reached for Merida's hand. She gave it a small squeeze. Rapunzel stood and tugged Merida to her feet. "C'mon. We're about get off." she said lightly.


	17. A Surprise Quest

Hiccup brought Toothless carefully inside the tower and settled with him in front of the trap door. Jack was sitting on the windowsill, looking out for Rapunzel and Merida. They've been sitting in silence for a good hour. Hiccup thought to break the silence.

"So, how long have you known Rapunzel?" he asked awkwardly. He was wondering that for a while but there wasn't a moment to ask. Now seemed like the perfect time to uncover a little history.

Jack looked back at him and swung his legs into the tower. "Ever since she was a little tyke. We grew up together in a way." he said, tugging at his frosted brown shawl.

Hiccup nodded. "How does that work out?" he asked.

"Pretty well. She was my only friend and pretty much still is." he said. "I don't really meet anyone that notices me like she does."

"Meaning?" Hiccup pushed.

Jack gave him a suspicious side look. "If I have to answer all of these questions, then I get to ask you about stuff too." he said. Hiccup gestured for him to go ahead. "Okay. How long have you liked Merida?" he asked, a sly smirk growing on his pale face.

Hiccup sat up abruptly, blushing intensely. "I do _not_ like her." he said defensively. Toothless raised his head from his nap, eyeing his rider with a look matching Jack's.

"Then why did you blush when I said her name the first time?" Jack asked playfully. Hiccup looked away and touched his cheek to feel it burning. He looked away. Jack was persistent. He flew over and knelt in front of Hiccup.

"Merida." he said simply. Hiccup turned a brighter shade. Jack laughed. "I was right."

"Stop it." Hiccup mumbled.

"No, no. I want to see if you pop. Merida. Merida. Merida-" he said over and over, soon shouting it, following Hiccup in the circles he was running to avoid Jack's taunting.

Just as soon as the Viking was about to swing a tight fist into the pretty winter spirit's face, the two stopped dead when the trap door was jiggling open. "Oh, speak of the devil," Jack said in Hiccup's ear to get another shade on his face before he flew back to his nonchalant seat at the windowsill. Hiccup was left searching for somewhere to go as the door opened. As a last resort, he dove behind Toothless as the door creaked as it was shoved open.

"Uh, Hiccup?" Jack asked uneasily.

Hiccup stuck out his scarlet face from behind Toothless' folded wing. There, looking around from in the doorway, was Astrid.

"Astrid?! What in Oden's name are you doing here?!" Hiccup asked panicked.

"Well, that's a welcome every girl dreams of getting." Astrid exclaimed, "I wanted to surprise you!"

"Again, sorry. But what do you expect?" Hiccup said looking at Jack snickering on his seat.

"She can't see me." Jack said simply, enjoying his view of this welcoming.

"What are you looking at?" Astrid demanded.

"Nothing. But where'd you come from? Were you following me?" he asked. Toothless settled back down into his slumber.

Astrid crossed her arms. "Well you seemed so high strung when you left that I followed you."

"All night?!" he asked. Astrid nodded. "Wow."

Astrid nodded and got out of the trapdoor and walked around the tower. "What is this place? Are you wanting another secret spot for you and Toothless because I ruined your old one?" she asked.

"No. And this isn't my tower. A-." he started. Astrid went on talking.

"No. It's much too girly for this to be your tower." She stopped walking and spun around to face him. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, are you _meeting_ someone here?!" she asked suspiciously.

Hiccup looked at her with wide eyes. "Yes. Very funny. Ha ha. No, Of course not. And now, you have to go. Glad to have you checking up on me, but you've exhausted your welcome." Hiccup said, pushing her towards the door. She spun out of his grip and walked in the opposite direction, examining the murals.

"So it _is_ a girl. Well she sure likes to paint-." Astrid murmured.

"Will you just stop, please?" Hiccup exclaimed. The two of them stopped talking as the trapdoor was being heaved open.

"Astrid, please, hide. Anywhere! It would be the best thing to do. Just, please." Hiccup pleaded in a hushed voice.

"No." Astrid folded her arms stubbornly. She jogged behind the trapdoor, tossing around the axe left in her hands from the fight.

Hiccup turned to Jack. "Aren't you going to do anything?!" he whispered angrily.

Jack watched the trapdoor cautiously, waiting for it to open, showing a brown hair, green eyed beauty, waiting to come out.

Hiccup smoothed back his hair, wanting it to have been Merida coming through the trapdoor and see his scarlet face.

Rapunzel lifted herself up out of the trapdoor, oblivious to Astrid in the room. Astrid stayed back, her grip tightening on the axe. "Hiccup, Merida's really fragile now so be delicate and don't bring the war up. Okay?" she asked. Jack gave her a look and ushered behind her. Rapunzel turned around slowly and the blonde viking found this a perfect time to pounce. Astrid knocked Rapunzel down on the tiled floor. Jack rushed to her aid as Rapunzel struggled against Astrid's weight.

"Who the hell are you?!" Astrid snarled, raising her axe high above her head. Hiccup hurried over, taking the hilt of the weapon and tossing it away from his girlfriend. Jack pulled Rapunzel off the floor and into his arms protectively.

"Hiccup! What're you-?"

At this perfect moment, Merida's hair peeked up from the trapdoor as she struggled out. Hiccup could see right away that she had been crying. It was very unusual for a girl such as herself. He couldn't help but be taken aback by this sudden emotion. As Merida looked around her, her red rimmed eyes fell on Astrid.

Astrid's face went pale. "A Scott!" she yelled, shoving Hiccup out of the way of her fallen axe. Merida jumped when she heard the new voice. She was left completely defenseless as Astrid barreled to her. Jack ran towards the two girls, staff readied, but Hiccup was faster. He tackled Merida out of the harm's way. The wind was knocked out of the both of them as they collided hard on the tiled floor. Astrid dove head first on the wardrobe in the corner of the room.

"Astrid?" Hiccup got up and walked slowly over to Astrid and helped her up, inspecting her head for injuries. Merida looked up at Jack and Rapunzel and signaled for them to leave.


	18. Tying Bonds

Astrid still had warrior strength and adrenaline in her system so she shook the dizziness out of her head from her fall. She looked furiously at Hiccup. Not bothering with Merida, she stormed to the trapdoor.

"Astrid please wait-." Hiccup pleaded.

"Well now I know for sure you were meeting someone." she growled.

"Astrid stop. We're only, you know," He struggled for the right word, "Acquaintances." Astrid stopped in front of the door and spun on her heels.

"No, Hiccup. You're not acquaintances. You should be mortal enemies! For the love of Thor, you know how terrible, awful, and maniacal her kind can be! She a Scott, Hiccup! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!" She asked crossly.

Hiccup looked at her scowling face. "I don't think that the war has anything to do with this." He muttered.

"For Oden's sake! Apparently not!" Astrid exploded. She turned back around, storming to the trapdoor. "I'm outta here."

Hiccup reached for Astrid's shoulder but she swatted his hand away. She took her fist and punched him in the face. "That's for betraying us." She growled, and, before Hiccup could recover from the blow, she kicked him in the groin. "And that's for everything else." She stormed right out, leaving Hiccup on the ground in pain.

Astrid looked around and saw Merida, Toothless, and Rapunzel. She started to march toward Merida, with her axe still clutched in her hand. Merida looked ready to fight with her but she was surprised when Toothless stepped between them and growled at the Viking girl. Astrid was surprised as well, hesitating suddenly. She stopped where she was and tilted her chin up, looking right at her enemy.

"This is all your fault. Because of you, your kingdom will burn for this." She said menacingly.

Merida was taken aback and watched as Astrid walked to the trapdoor, dignified, and climbed down to the ground before she took off on her dragon. Jack looked at Rapunzel, were they shared a little look. Toothless relaxed and retracted him teeth, looking back at Merida. Her jaw was clenched, her fists balled at her sides, but when she met the dragon's gaze, her eyes softened at him and have him an affectionate rub on the snout.

Merida hesitated before walking over to Hiccup slumped against a table. She went up and helped him for support.

"Thank you." she said quietly, "F-For pushin' me outta the way." Hiccup looked up at her.

"You're welcome." He said softly.

Looking at their conversation was Rapunzel peeking out from her bedroom curtains. She pulled the curtain closed and turned to Jack who was perched on her little mirrored desk.

"It's getting late." she noted.

Jack nodded. "Do you think that there's going to be an attack?" He asked.

"No. I think they're sparing us a night. At least, I hope." She muttered.

Jack watched her reaction. "Don't be nervous." he said softly.

"I'm not!" she shook her head, "I-I was just thinking aloud. But, you seemed pretty tense when you helped me to my feet after that maniac attacked me." Rapunzel commented. Jack looked down sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"I was just concerned. People do tense up when other people attack." he said nonchalantly.

"Perhaps," Rapunzel said. "So, you were concerned about me?" she asked. Jack looked away and leaned on his staff.

"Why wouldn't-I mean, how could I not-uh..." Jack struggled.

Rapunzel saw his desperation to find the right words, trying not to look stupid, so she tucked her hair behind her ears and waved the question away. "Never mind." Jack's shoulders slumped, defeated.

She walked over to her bed and sat on it's edge. Jack watched her think for a moment when. all of a sudden, her face lit up. "Wait! I almost forgot about something." she exclaimed giddily, reaching for her bedside drawer. She slipped out a box and tucked it behind her back and looked at him with an ear to ear smile. Jack played along.

"Ooo! What's in the box?" he questioned playfully. Rapunzel presented to him a nicely wrapped box with a blue bow on top. He eyed the box carefully. "I like the blue." he said.

She stood on the top of her toes. Her smile widened. "That's really good." she said. Jack looked up at her.

"Why?" he said as he took the box. She lifted the box under his nose. He laughed lightly as he untied the bow and lifted the box cover up. He looked up at her, then back at her gift. He stifled another laugh as he lifted up his present.

"I knitted it myself. It took me a while but it was no trouble. Do you like it?" she asked hopefully.

"Punzie, I love it." Jack said excitedly, lifting up a blue sweatshirt. "I've never seen anything like it." he marveled. He felt along the cuffs, a ribbon of frost curling up to the elbow.

"You like it? Really?" she asked.

"Yeah." he answered truthfully. He looked into her joyful green eyes that grew with her excitement.

Rapunzel sat back on the bed, hugged her knees and gave him a sly smirk. "I didn't really know your size, so you'll have to model for me." she laughed.

"Oh, absolutely." he said, dramatically thrusting his hip to the side. Rapunzel clapped her approval. He blushed a light pink.

He unhooked his shawl and draped it over his shoulder. Rapunzel leaned back from laughing so hard while Jack walked back and forth a pretend runway. Jack took the pullover and tossed it flamboyantly at Rapunzel, who caught it and draped it over her own shoulders. Jack took his gift and shrugged it over his waist. He examined it. "What do you think?" he asked. Rapunzel nodded and pursed her lips, pulling herself up for a better look. Inspecting the stitching, she noticed that there was a little too much arm room.

"I'll have to fix it a little later." Rapunzel muttered to herself.

"No. I like it like it is." Jack smiled at her. "Help me take it for a test drive?" he asked playfully, reaching his hand out.

She looked up slowly and took his outstretched hand. "Sure." he pulled her towards him, her hand gripping the fabric on his chest. Jack smiled and hovered in the air. Rapunzel noticed the pause and looked up at Jack. "What are you waiting for? Fly around a bit."

Jack chuckled. "Hang on, then." Rapunzel's grip tightened around him as he flew a little higher. She supported herself on Jack's feet, standing close to him. Jack smiled at her. The way they were floating in the air made it feel like they were dancing. She was laughing sweetly, admiring her room from new angles with her arms around Jack. Her fingers brushed against the old paintings on the higher walls, remembering the days she painted them alone in her room. Jack set her down on the floor gently. When her bare feet touched the cool ground, he got to her level. Their eyes met. Jack could feel his heart thud rapidly against his rib cage. The way she looked at him in that moment was a look he wanted to remember to the end of his days.

Rapunzel took in his blue eyes carefully, a blush both brushing their cheeks when gravity pulled their lips towards each other. Just then, Merida poked her bushy head through the curtain. Her face grew to about the same color as her hair when Jack saw that she was there. Rapunzel stopped and turned her attention to Merida as Jack lowered is gaze, embarrassed.

Rapunzel cleared her throat. "Uh, yes?" she asked, her voice quaking slightly.

"Well, it's getting dark outside and I've been watching outside for shadows." she said.

"And?" Rapunzel interrupted.

"Another attack is happening. They're coming in from everywhere." she exclaimed.


	19. Winning the Battle

Jack, Rapunzel, and Merida came running through the curtained area and saw Hiccup on Toothless perched on top of the newly made barricade in front of the gap in the roof. Rapunzel went to the windowsill and looked at the sky. From there, she could plainly see fleets of nightmares pouring into the streets of Corona. She turned back to that awaiting teammates.

"We had better get ready." She said, passing Hiccup and Merida, going straight to Jack. She lifted his old pullover which she still wore. "Mind if I have this longer?" She asked.

Jack pulled on its corners for her. "Nightmares are cold. I wouldn't want you to get sick." he said sweetly. Rapunzel granted him a smile and strode over to Toothless.

"Oh! No need." Merida objected. "I can ride on him."

Rapunzel was puzzled about her new attitude with the beast that Merida, not only feared, but despised. She stepped back and allowed Merida to saddle behind Hiccup. Rapunzel turned a heel on the two and took Jack's once again outstretched hand.

"Keep low to the ground." Jack ordered. "We don't want to get overwhelmed."

Hiccup nodded and patted Toothless to take off towards battle. Jack was about to follow Toothless out but Rapunzel stopped him.

"Don't go yet. I almost forgot something." She said, stepping away from him. She grabbed a frying pan from the kitchen. She turned to him. "Frying pans. You'd be surprised." She explained. Jack tilted his head.

"I don't doubt it." He said. He nudged his head. "Come on." She momentarily pointed her frying pan menacingly at him but then dropped the act and smiled. She walked over to him and hung onto him. Jack took off after Hiccup and Merida to the kingdom of Corona.

Toothless sliced through the air flawlessly as they raced towards, yet, another battle. Hiccup cringed as Merida dug her nails into his side as she tried to stay on. Hiccup looked back at her.

"You know he's not going to throw you again." he exclaimed. Merida rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don' wanna take any more chances." she pointed out. Toothless snorted, making Merida flinch and dug her nails further into Hiccup's sides. Hiccup winced through the pain.

The four teenagers surveyed the shadows wreaking havoc on the innocence in the village. Any light near the shadows were quickly extinguished. Mothers dragged their kids to their safety. Fathers and guards stayed out to fight.

Nightmares formed into fluid shapes, encasing their victims in a helpless vortex of fear. One man was being tortured, the shadows swirling around his crouching body. They whispered threats, portraying his most horrible fears. Jack dove down to the man, blasting the shadows away from the man. The shadows evaporated like dust, specs getting on Jack's face. Rapunzel looked away from all the chaos, being too painful to watch. Jack shot at a few stray nightmares, coming from the streets, to them. Toothless landed below the balcony of the castle. Jack landed and turned to the others.

"We really have to work as a team. That means, we have to stay together to protect this place." he ordered. Everyone nodded their understanding, watching their enemy. They couldn't keep their eyes trained on one. The shadows created a thick, gray, fog that surrounded them. Before they could move on, Merida stopped herself.

"Wait! I haven't go a weapon. How am I supposed to defend myself?" she whispered, a little panicked.

"You can stay on Toothless. I don't mind fighting on the ground." Hiccup offered. Merida looked at him then saddled the purring dragon.

Rapunzel cautiously stepped towards the mass of fog with Jack instep behind her. She gripped her frying pan tightly while holding it out in front of her. Merida rode forward on Toothless, eyes darting through the fog for any signs of movement. Hiccup stood next to her gripping a sword that his father supplied him after the encounter with shadow Red Death. He gripped it nervously.

The silence was cut by an eerie voice that projected out on the square. "And I thought this was going to be a challenge." The voice seemed to come from every direction. The four looked at each other then back into the smoke. "You've been great test subjects." The voice purred. "It's been a dream." He chuckled. "The only one left in fact."

"Why're you attacking my kingdom?!" Rapunzel yelled, "Who are you?!" A mere snicker was her reply.

"I am the one that makes your nightmares, my dear." the voice sneered, "The one always watching you in your most vulnerable moments. I feed on your sadness. I cherish your fear. It gives me strength, strength I use for my army of nightmares." Jack gripped his staff harder. He felt a slight shiver run down his spine. He was made of frost and cold. How could he be shivering?

"I am Pitch Black." The voice yelled triumphantly. Pitch sighed into the fog. "I was a little disappointed though. You're not nearly as challenging as I would like. But, I haven't seen you in a proper fight together." He said simply, "Destroy them."

Nightmares appeared all around them. They were forms of smoke but the four took on their danger seriously. One nightmare lunged out at Rapunzel but Toothless shot a fire blast at it and it evaporated. The Nightmares never let the dragon's light faze them.

And so the epic battle began. Hiccup mounted Toothless, sitting behind Merida. Jack brought Rapunzel back and held his staff at the ready. They began to get overwhelmed in the tight group. The nightmares roared and swiped at the teens. They continued to move in, swarm after swarm, hoping to suffocate the four. Jack struck every nightmare that came close to any of them. Rapunzel got in good hits with her frying pan. Toothless roared, hoping to strike fear into fear.

"We have to separate!" Merida shouted over the rush of shadows, getting off Toothless. Hiccup grabbed her arm tightly.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"I'm finding us a safe haven! Let go of me." she demanded. She grabbed his sword from his lap and ran before Hiccup could protest. Jack's defenses had become quicker. He stood back-to-back with Rapunzel, warding off any thing that came near the both of us. They had become a team.

But, the Nightmares were relentless in toying with their strengths. Merida ran with the sword in her hand, defending herself as she shimmied through the fog. She waved back at the other three to follow her.

"C'mon!" she yelled to them. They heard her yells, advancing to her. The nightmares were coming down on Merida who was advancing through their feeding circle. The night was drowned by the screaming of the falling phantoms as they were beaten away by Merida. She had become a machine. Every flare of anger was released from her being as she struck down each and every shadow that dared cross her path. The fact that her home was gone, her father was out there, but still missing, was enough fuel to keep her going.

Toothless took flight and shot through the sky like a rocket to shoot down the surrounding attackers. The dragon weaved through the nightmares, taking all of them down, in unison with Jack. Since Rapunzel was now safely on the back of Toothless, he was allowed to move freely without having to worry about her falling off. Using his staff, sending coils of frost penetrating through the shadows. It amazed him how fast they evaporated like black mist around him. The four spread around the area, using Merida's safe path. The army was growing weak. It gave them strength.


	20. Snuff Out the Joy

Merida felt triumphant as she swung her weapon, defending herself. But, swinging that heavy sword was starting to take its on Merida's arms. She tried to keep up the same pace but she was becoming weary fast. Suddenly, she missed a fraction of a beat and was unaware for a few seconds. Seconds were all that were needed. The Nightmares weren't going to allow Merida to get the sword back up again. They came at her from every angle. Merida cried out in pain as the nightmares hit hard and soon she was on the ground. Her hair flew in her face as her body smacked the ground. She could feel a steady stream of blood trickle down her right nostril. Her damage made picking up the ax feel like picking up lead. Merida looked up and only saw darkness. She was reduced to throwing punches and kicks to the Nightmares. It was ineffective, having her vision become cloudy with pain, she regularly hit plain air. She felt like a seizure patient. Merida called out for help but no one responded.

"H-help. Please! S-Somebody." she yelled weakly. The nightmares relentlessly beat down with more speed and power. Why was nobody coming to her aid?! Had they completely forgotten about her? Was the throng of Nightmares too thick for them to see her? Merida lowered her head, covering it with her hands in a fatal position. "Enough! Enough- I've had enough. Make this stop. Please, somebody." She squeaked helplessly.

She lay there still when she realized that everything had gone silent. She wasn't cowering in the Kingdom of Corona anymore. She was in a room. She heard her raspy breathing as she looked at the chamber she was in. The darkness still existed but it was more intense. Pitch's voice made her jump.

"Fascinating, people's fears. So complex and surprising. Yet there's always a drawback. They always fit the persons personality." he sighed. Merida turned around to see a slender, spidery man, with a wicked gleam in his liquid gold eyes. She snarled, struggling to get up. She struggled to fight Pitch on her own. Her arms wobbled under her weight, before they gave out on her. He held his hands out. "No, no. Don't trouble yourself. You don't have to try and look defiant. I already know you're afraid." She looked up at him with a winded look on her face.

"You don't know what I feel." She spat as she gave standing another try and stood tall, nonetheless. Pitch's expression changed from wickedness to pity.

"Oh you poor, naive, child. That's the one thing I do know: people's greatest fears. I know for a fact that you hate that you're never listened to. You fear that someone will find you weak, and not take you seriously. But worst of all, I know you're afraid of messing up so much that you won't be able to fix your mistake. Just like that little spell you cast on your mother?"

Merida snarled, trying to fight back against his words, piercing through her like daggers. It felt as if he were looking inside her heart. She felt horribly exposed.

"You're wrong! I fear nothing."

Pitch laughed. "My, you are a stubborn one, aren't you?" His smile stretched across his leathery face. "You want to know a way out of this, don't you? You want to go back to your friends and gang up against me?"

"Anyone in their right head would want to escape from this dingy place." Merida scoffed. "I'm best on my own. I can take you."

"Then what are you doing with them, if you're so powerful?" Pitch sneered. He approached her with a determined step. He toward over her an arms length away. "Do you feel like you need the extra security? A little, dainty, girl like you, doing such a huge job as to take down the Nightmare King?"

"I'm not dainty!" Merida yelled, charging at him. With one swift movement, Pitch caught her off her guard, a spindly hand creeping around her throat.

"You don't feel like those three are your friends? One of them in a lousy princess, your complete opposite! The other is your mortal enemy, riding a winged beast who helped set fire to your kingdom! The other isn't even real. And when I say this, you know I'm telling the truth. I can end you and your 'friends' in a heartbeat. A mere flick of the wrist. All that happiness that is around you is just a distraction from the truth. From fear, your worlds will crumble under my foot." Every word he spoke cut through her, sawing her piece by piece. Was this really what she was thinking this entire time?

Merida let fear seep through her eyes. Pitch dropped her and she crumbled in a heap on the floor. Pitch smirked before sauntering away from her body. Deep in her mind, Merida had a feeling Pitch was right. She was siding with the enemy, someone who helped a clan of hooligans to pillage and destroy her own kingdom. She sided with a royal princess, probably more proper than her own mother. And Jack, well, nobody would probably ever believe her that she had ever spoken to the guardian of winter. He was just a fairytale mothers told their children on the holidays. They couldn't be her friends...

Yet, she eyed Pitch's back, spitting out a gob of blood at his feet. "I don't believe you." She said fiercely.

The tall man narrowed his eyes. He gestured all around him. "Is this not proof enough?!" Merida scowled at him. "I see you need a little bit of encouragement." Pitch said. He stepped back and presented Merida with an object. "Just a token." He said.

Merida stepped forward and did a gasp. It was a bow equipped with a fully loaded quiver of arrows. Merida hesitated but grabbed the gifts while ignoring her better judgement. She looked up at Pitch suspiciously. "I cannot be bribed. I will stand up for myself and others without these." She stated.

"Oh, that points clear," he said. "But you'll need these."

"What for?"

Pitch stepped backwards. "For protection." His words echoed as the the image in front of Merida morphed and changed back to Corona. She blinked and shook herself back to consciousness. Her vision sharpened to Rapunzel bent down other her, checking Merida for wounds. She was covered by Hiccup on Toothless. Rapunzel looked back at Merida's face and gasped happily when she saw Merida opening her eyes.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay. We saw you get swamped by those Nightmares. We rushed to you and fought them off of you." Rapunzel said, propping Merida to a sitting position. "Can you stand?" She asked noticing the uneasiness in Merida's eyes.

"Yes yes. I'm fine." Merida waved her off. "I'm fine." She got to her feet. Rapunzel let out a small gasp.

"Where did you get that?" She whispered. Merida looked down at herself and found the bow that Pitch gave her on her shoulder. She merely glanced at it and then back at Rapunzel.

"What about it?" She asked, clutching it. Rapunzel stood up slowly and looked at her.

"Where did you get that?" Rapunzel asked fearfully.

"Pitch gave it to me. But-," Merida was interrupted. Rapunzel placed her frying pan in front of her defensively. Merida continued. "But-but it's okay. He was just giving it to me." Merida said.

Before Rapunzel could respond, Pitch's voice echoed across the square once again. "Really? That's the best you can do? I wasn't expecting it so easy. But," He paused. "I'm thinking to make things interesting. To snuff out joy from your lives." He purred. The four were still, but no explanation came. Pitch was gone for now. And soon, his nightmares followed.

Rapunzel looked back at Merida. "Get rid of that. Immediately. We don't know if Pitch did something to it or not." She commanded then strode away to group with the others.

_I can do whatever I want, thank you very much. You prissy little princess._ Merida grumbled and kept the bow on he shoulders and followed her. Jack touched down and joined the two.

"Are you alright?" he asked Merida. She nodded and averted eye contact. Toothless landed and Hiccup joined the conversation.

"They've all vanished. What was that all about?" He asked. They all shrugged. They stood around not being able to do anything. Finally, Hiccup stooped down and picked up Merida's discarded sword. He handed it back to her. "I wouldn't want to lose that. You'll need it." He said. Merida shifted, hiding the bow and arrows Pitch had given to her and took the sword's hilt gratefully. Rapunzel and Jack moved away from them to talk.

"How are you holding up?" Rapunzel asked.

Jack smirked and flexed his shoulders. "Alright. You?"

"Better than I expected, yeah. Winded and a little sore, but good." Rapunzel said. "Pitch kind of cut off the battle." Jack nodded. He didn't think it'd be an appropriate time to bring up THE scene in her room only hours ago.

There was a distant shriek in the night that made Jack tense up. He readied his staff. Rapunzel turned and held out her frying pan. They stood back to back. Merida and Hiccup were back at the ready as well. Jack crept forward a few steps, listening intently. There were no more disturbances. Jack turned on his heel back to Rapunzel and jumped back. A wall formed in between him and Rapunzel. Jack grabbed his staff and flew alongside it. The wall stretched as he flew. He yelled Rapunzel's name and touched back to the ground.

"There's no way around." cried Rapunzel. Jack could hear Rapunzel frantically batting the wall with her frying pan. He beat against it as well.

"Punzie, listen. You're going to be fine okay? Just stay at the ready. Don't let anything hurt you." Jack instructed.

"Okay." Rapunzel said uneasily. She pressed her back on the wall and looked for signs of Nightmares. There came a thud from the fog creeping in front of her. She looked back at the wall from the corner of her eye. "Jack. I'm scared." She whimpered.

On the other side of the wall, Jack stopped where he stood. Rapunzel's voice struck a cord deep inside him. The way she said it, gnawed at an unknown memory in his mind. He couldn't place it. But he knew it made him want to get to Rapunzel faster. He erupted into the air and tried to get over the wall.

Rapunzel breathed deeply to help calm her down, and looked off into the darkness. Her eyes flickered at every sound or movement. Pitch's voice whispered into her ear. "Be afraid. It only makes me stronger." Rapunzel cringed and tried to block the voice out.

_Fight the fear. You're alright. Jack will come to help._ she thought. Her ears intensened as she heard the firmiliar sound of bare feet on the pavement. She relaxed slightly. "Jack? Is that you?" She called. Jack called back clearly.

"Punzie? C'mon! We have to get out of here." He shouted into the fog. Rapunzel smiled at her friend and hurried to find him.

"Where are you? Jack, come out." she asked, squinting for better clarity. Nothing was helping. Her friend was nowhere near her. "Jack-" She said uneasily.

"Punzie? I can't see you. Step into the fog." He exclaimed. Rapunzel looked uneasily back at the wall and into the gray. A loud, starling, blast from behind the wall made Rapunzel turn completely around, frantically. She clutched her sides tightly, keeping a firm grip on her frying pan as her fingers traced the mysterious wall for guidance. Suddenly, a sharp cry rang out in the smog that made Rapunzel's heart drop. "Jack!" she yelled and ran to the direction of the yell. She frantically scanned through haze and felt around for him. "Jack! Where are you?" she called.

"Punzie!" Jack yelled, "I'm coming! Can you hear me?" Rapunzel looked and saw a dark silhouette of Jack in the fog. She breathed out a deep sigh of relief. "Jack! I'm so glad I found you." She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly.

"Oh, Punzie. I'm so glad you found me." An eerie edge crept into his voice. A gray, dead, hand clung to her waist. Rapunzel's blood went cold as she looked up and beheld a complete Nightmare Jack. Shock forced a horrified scream from her lips. Nightmare Jack only smirked at her shrieks. Grabbing onto her arm, digging his gray nails into her skin, he started to pull her deeper into the mist.

"C'mon, Punzie! Wouldn't wanna keep Pitch waiting, would we?" He taunted her. She tried her hardest to pry him off, swatting him with her pan, but nothing helped.

"Jack! Jack, where are you?!" She screamed into the darkness.

On the other side of the wall, the real Jack turned to the direction of the high pitched scream and sprinted towards it. He shot out a flurry of blue frost in the distance to see where he was going. As he flew Pitch's words ran through his head, "To snuff out the joy in your lives." as he flew faster. Pitch's voice played on and on inside his mind, making him seethe with rage.

"Rapunzel!" He yelled out desperate attempts, trying everything in his power to break down the barrier. He struck it with his whole body twice before it gave way, sending him spiraling out of control to the ground. Dazed and confused, he felt around for his staff, having dropped it during the fall.

His eyes scanned desperately through the murk until he saw shapes in front of him. He gripped his staff and shone light in the direction of the scream. There, he saw a dark, carbon copy of himself, smirking devilishly, his hands wrapped tight around Rapunzel's waist as the darkness was soon to consume them.

Rapunzel's watery eyes washed over the real Jack.

"Jack. Help-" she screamed as they were both swallowed by the darkness. Jack panicked and shot at where the Nightmare once was and plowed forward. He only passed through the spot they were in. To his disbelief, they had vanished into thin air.

Rapunzel was gone.


	21. Anytime

When the first round of nightmares blew over, Jack and Rapunzel separated to talk by themselves. Hiccup watched the two leave and turned to face Merida.

"Are you okay?" He asked cautiously. Merida shifted awkwardly and nodded. She averted his gaze. He cleared his throat.

"How are you doing?" She asked quietly, still clutching the sword he gave to her.

"Good. Good," He cleared his throat again. He chose his words carefully, knowing that Rapunzel had warned him about this touchy subject. "Merida, I am so sorry that DunBroch fell. I can't imagine how hard that must be for you." He sympathized delicately. Merida looked up at him softly.

"Thank you and, yes, it has been difficult." Merida said dismissively.

"Look, whatever happens with our homelands, or people, or others of our kind, that doesn't effect us," Hiccup said calmly, "Because I know you would never do anything that would hurt anyone."

"How do you know that?" She asked curtly. "I do that to you. For all I know, you could be like all the Vikings. You're just good at lying about it." She said accusingly. She was surprised when Hiccup gave a crooked smile and gestured to himself.

"Like all the Vikings? Like all the buff, brawny, brainless, Vikings?" He laughed to himself. Merida eyed him quizzically.

"You're really convincing then." She tried to keep it together, but couldn't help a giggle. "I can see that's a bit of a long shot."

"Thanks for the thought, though." He said as Merida continued her giggling fit. Hiccup looked away to the entering fog and then to Toothless. He gave the dragon a signal and he trotted over. He averted Hiccup and sat nearest to Merida. She stroked him with a steady hand. Toothless purred at Merida's touch and sank into a state of pure relaxation.

"I do agree. I mean, I don't expect you to be the usual Viking but what about me? I think I would be a perfect representation of the heart-steady Scotts." She said. Hiccup pondered on it.

"I would say so. But if you were, I can assure you, I would be dead right now." He noted. Merida huffed.

"I try my hardest, too."

"No, you gave up. But why?" Hiccup wondered. Merida stopped petting Toothless and kept her gaze on the ground. The dragon noticed her absence and grunted lightly for her to keep petting him.

"I realized the truth about you. You're truly a good person. And that's a shock from the Viking history of our village. Vikings were said as just terrible people. Not even people, monsters. I didn't see that in you." She eyed Hiccup curiously, scanning his face for any sort of reaction.

"Good to know." he said, finally. He moved closer to Toothless and say cross-legged in front of him. "Watch this." He said. Merida's sapphire eyes watched as Hiccup scratched Toothless behind the ear and made his way under the chin. Merida jumped as Toothless hit the floor in a therapeutic trance. She looked at Hiccup then back at Toothless.

"How'd you do that so easily?" She asked.

"We're just that close I guess." He said and patted the snoring animal and gave Merida a crooked smile. She looked away. Her eyes settled on the piece of metal that used to be where his right leg had been.

"How did that happen," Merida gestured to his leg. "Truthfully."

"What I told you wasn't a complete lie. There really was a dragon." Hiccup explained to her the story of how Toothless and him met. How he'd shot him directly out of the sky, injuring him. He then explained the mechanics used for Toothless's makeshift tail. He even told her about the dragon fighting arena and how he had come so close to dying, after attempting to show the tribe, and his father, the truth about dragons.

Merida seemed to enjoy the part were Hiccup described the battle with Red Death, the infamous dragon queen that lived on Dragon Island. He then explained how Toothless had heroically saved him from being burned up in a Red Death inferno. At the end of the tale, Merida looked at him in amazement.

"And you undermine yourself so much." she blinked. "You really aren't a regular Viking." .

Hiccup blew out his cheeks. "Apparently not." He said.

"Oh! No disrespect." She assured. "It's a compliment of sorts."

"Glad to be reassured." He said gently. Merida gave him a steady smile.

"Are you glad to be different?"

Hiccup sighed. "For the first time, no. Not really. I wanted to be like the other Vikings. The Vikings who," He peered at Toothless, still in a daze, "The Vikings that killed dragons." He paused and looked over at Merida's dumbfounded face. "But I overcame that when I met Toothless. He was wounded and I took care of him. My dad disapproved, like he always did." he said, defeated. "But still, no. It's not that great being different."

"You know, you and I aren't that different. You have father troubles? Oof. I have mother troubles. Or had, I guess. We worked though it." Merida said, crossing her legs and placing her hands in her lap.

"That sounds fine. What did you do that was so horrible?" Hiccup asked. Merida smirked at his lack of knowledge about her.

"I, uh, might've turned her into a bear?" She said. She looked at Hiccup's disbelieving squint and chuckled. "There was a witch and gave me a spell. My mother was forcing me into marriage." She blabbered. Hiccup's expression didn't change. "I'm tellin' you the truth! I swear."

"Oh, I'm sure you are. I don't doubt you. But, it does sound a bit far fetched." He said.

"No, it's perfectly normal to turn family members into animals." Merida exclaimed sarcastically. "My brothers were bears for awhile too."

"Wow, I want to live where you live. I have people in mind to 'change'." Hiccup said with fake sinister tone. Merida chortled. Hiccup gave a crooked smile.

"I'll point you in the right direction." She said definitely. "Hey, we're not so bad at not trying to kill each other." She noticed.

"Yeah. That little feud is so drawn out." Hiccup said. He looked up at Merida. She was so beautiful. The way her face rounded out and her eyes shone brightly. They were big, but not as big as Rapunzel's, that's for sure. That unruly hair was extravagant, and it matched her personality so well, it was almost too good to be true. He caught himself lingering a little too long on her eyes, those amazing, vibrant, blue eyes. He looked away a little embarrassed.

Suddenly, a shot of light shone bright through the darkness. And the fog that was rolling in all around them. Toothless grunted and was on his feet, glaring at the potential of a fight. Merida had noticed and was on her feet as well.

"Is it another attack?" Merida asked aloud.

"It would've started already if it were." Hiccup clarified.

"Where're the others?" Merida asked, looking to where Jack and Rapunzel had went.

"I'm sure they'll be fine on their own."

Toothless cautiously moved forward at first and then suddenly dropped his act and galloped into the murk.

"Toothless! Where are you going?" Hiccup called. Hiccup turned to Merida and gestured her to follow. They ran off together in pursuit of the dragon.

"Maybe he saw something?" Merida asked as they crept through the grayness.

"He would have stayed alert at a time like this. Or I would have thought."

"Then just why would he-?" Merida started. She was cut short when they spotted him in the distance. Hiccup let out a relieved sigh.

"Toothless! There you are, bud." Hiccup said jogging over to his dragon. Merida took her time to follow him and watched as he went to his dragon.

Toothless was paused somewhere and looking at something on the ground. Hiccup bent down and picked it up. Merida stood beside him and gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.

"Jack's shawl." Hiccup said a little panicked.

"Rapunzel was wearing that." Merida reminded herself. "Do you think something happened to them?"

"I don't know. We better find them." Hiccup said putting the cloth on Toothless. He tuned his back to Merida and looked into the fog. "Merida..." He started. Merida turned and saw the movement in the fog. She had Hiccup's sword in hand.

"Stay close." she instructed him.

Out from the fog crept a small dragon. Merida and Hiccup exchanged confused looks. Merida cautiously approached the small creature with Hiccup watching her every move. "Hiccup. What kind of dragon is this?" She whispered to him.

"It's a Terrible Terror. But none that I've ever seen. That's it, walk slowly towards him." He instructed. Merida carefully approached the dragon. It blinked at her stupidly. She kept her distance and peered at it. The Terror arched it's back and growled, readying itself for something.

"Merida, look out!" Hiccup exclaimed. At his warning, Merida dove out of the way as a stream of fire shot out at her. Hiccup ran towards the dragon. The Terror sputtered where it stood and started to morph into something new. The rogue creature turned into large hands, reaching for Hiccup, as he tried to skid to a halt. Hiccup fell backwards and the outstretched hands grabbed his prosthetic leg and dragged him in. Toothless tried to help his rider out, but he was being swarmed by his own Nightmare forms. Merida looked up from here she landed and saw Hiccup being dragged away and scrambled to her feet.

Hiccup frantically clawed the ground, helpless to the force pulling him away. Merida stumbled as she ran to seize both of his hands to pull him free. "You have to disconnect my leg!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"I got it!" Merida said. She looked back at the hold of the nightmares. She still clung to Hiccup as she moved to his leg and pulled all the knobs and dials stuck out of it. One of them worked and Hiccup was loose and was kicking away the part of his that disappeared along with the threat. He panted and looked at Merida.

"Thanks." He said. Merida nodded.

"Anytime." Merida said. She looked back in the fog, looking for other movement. There was a silence that made them turn. Toothless grunted and walked over to them. "Hiccup. I-" she said.

She stopped abruptly as the bow string that hung around her tightened, throwing her back and plucking her from view in a blink of an eye. Hiccup stared back at her and watched as her horrified eyes disappeared into the mist, leaving him and Toothless alone.


	22. Stop and Go

Jack swayed while he stared blankly at the empty space before him.

Rapunzel was gone. And who knows what happened with the others? He felt sick to his stomach. He crouched on the ground and tried to calm himself. But nothing kept the rage boiling to the surface for Pitch. He longed to find him and kill him. He wanted to be _Pitch's_ worst nightmare.

He clenched his fists and hit the ground in blind fury and defeat. He kept striking the ground, yelling out in rage. His knuckles started to bleed, but he never stopped. It was only when he knew that punching the ground wasn't going to get her back did he stop. He rested his head on the ground. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to calm himself down by taking large breaths. His head only jerked up when a yell came out a few yards away from him.

"Rapunzel!" He jumped up and sped toward the noise.

Hiccup watched in horror as Merida's feet unexpectedly flew out from underneath her, being dragged into the mist.

He called out to her, "Merida!" But she was already gone. It was as if his soul was slowly and painfully ripped out of him. He only saw her blue sapphire eyes widen before she disappeared into the fog. He stumbled to his feet but lost his balance with his left foot gone. Toothless caught him and let him lean on his snout for support. The dragon roared into the murk. Listening carefully to the unsettling silence, Hiccup's heart thudded against his chest, hoping Merida would reply. Instead, there came a sound of skin slipping on stone in response. Toothless's attention perked, and his teeth bared menacingly. Hiccup tried to look deep into the fog, to place where the sound was coming from.

"Show yourself." he ordered clearly.

An ice blast shot out from the distance, which hit Hiccup square on the chest. Hiccup tumbled backwards, a cage of ice coiling around his rib cage. He jumped when he saw Jack bolt through the fog in a mad fury. Jack pounced on Hiccup, threatening to kill him. Hiccup shielded his face, hoping Jack would come to his senses and stop trying to murder him. He watched as the ice spirit stop abruptly as he realized there was no threat. Hiccup noticed Jack was a shaking mess and was panting heavily. He looked awful. Hiccup lowered his hands as Jack relaxed.

"What happened to you?" Hiccup asked, leaning up against his dragon.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Jack snapped. He ran his hands through his white hair and paced around in fury.

"It doesn't look like nothing." Hiccup pushed on.

"Just drop it!" Jack growled, "You and Merida just go set up a safe haven somewhere." Hiccup looked at the ground and hesitated. Jack noticed. "What are you waiting for? Go do what I told you to do."

"I can't." Hiccup mumbled. "Merida's gone." he said. Jack stopped his fidgeting and softly looked up at him. He stood up a little taller.

"I'm sorry." he said carefully. "Does that have anything to do with it?" Jack gestured to Hiccup's missing foot replacement.

"They grabbed at me too. Merida unfastened my foot to keep me from getting captured. Before she was taken away, that is." He said, lifting his missing limb for a better look.

Jack looked at it and thought about the two's conversation back at Rapunzel's tower. He thought about how he mimicked and mocked Hiccup's feelings. Of course, it was all for fun then. But now, he wasn't in the joking mood. He looked at his present from Rapunzel that he got a few hours before.

He cleared his throat. "What happened to Rapunzel?" he asked, predicting the answer already.

Jack looked at his Viking friend and felt a little lump form in his throat. "She's gone too." Jack choked. He couldn't say anything else, due to the tears threatening to come out.

Hiccup broke the thick silence that was building up. "It was all my fault." he admitted guiltily, "If I hadn't distracted her, she would have taken care of herself and she would be here instead of me. That's what I prefer to have happened."

Jack grunted. "Oh, shut up. You deserve to be here just as much as anyone else does. You couldn't have done anything to change what happened." Jack objected.

"Sure," Hiccup muttered. "Well, when are we going?" he asked.

"What?"

"We need to get them back." Hiccup said. "I want to start early." he said.

Jack smiled faintly. "That would be difficult with your state. Do you have another foot tucked away somewhere?" he asked, accounting to Hiccup's missing left leg.

"I do. But it's on Berk." he said.

"Well that's helpful." Jack muttered sarcastically. "Let's be on our way, then." Jack said, clutching his staff, ready to take off.

"Wait." Hiccup stopped Jack from rocketing off. He shuffled his feet a little embarrassed before saying, "Riding Toothless is going to be hard, considering that I'm missing a foot to steer him."

"I can give you a ride." Jack offered.

"No, I can manage. I'm just giving you a heads up, in case Toothless and I go A-wall." Hiccup shook his head, while mounting the Night Fury. "I'd hate to leave Toothless here. Just make sure we don't plummet." Hiccup said, pushing off the ground with a god-like force.

"Right." Jack said, admiring the determination in his actions. He followed him close by.

The three landed outside Hiccup's hut. Toothless supported Hiccup as they hobbled to the front door. When they opened the door, they saw Stoick bent over a roaring fire. Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks. Jack flew in and perched on a beam in the room, unseen by Stoick.

"There you are, son. Close the door when you come in, I felt a draft." he said.

"H-Hi to you too, Dad." Hiccup said, "W-When did you get back?" He lead Toothless through the door, leaning on him. Stoick watched him as he hobbled in.

"Hold it. What happened to your foot?" He asked.

"It ran away from him." Jack joked. Hiccup quickly gave him an angry glare, then stared back at his dad.

"I-it- I misplaced it." Hiccup said vaguely. Stoical flew off his seat, arms across his chest.

"How can you lose something that's physically attached to you?" He asked suspiciously.

"Don't ask me something I can't answer! I'm just here to grab my other foot from my room and I'll be going." He excused himself.

"And where will you be going this late at night?" Stoick pursued.

"Oh, you know, off on a perilous journey to save the ruler of the kingdom that the Vikings have had feud with for centuries, probably labeling myself as a traitor for all of my life, probably. No big deal." Jack muttered under his breath. Hiccup gave Jack a longer S_hut up now_ look.

"I'm going back to DunBroch." Hiccup exclaimed quietly. It wasn't technically a lie.

"We have our best fighters there keeping watch already. You don't have to go." The chief objected.

"I need to, you know, dragon-sit. It's what I do best. Now I'm leaving." Hiccup said definitely, climbing the steps to his bedroom. Jack flew after him.

"Ready now?" Jack asked impatiently.

Hiccup grabbed the extra prosthetic leg from under his bed and snapped it into place. He made sure to ask Gobber to weld more legs in case something horrible happened to his leg.

"Yeah." He said. Jack took off at his say so through the skylight. Hiccup mounted Toothless and the two galloped through the skylight after him. Once they were caught up to Jack, Hiccup yelled over the roaring wind.

"Jack! We don't even know where we're going!" He exclaimed.

"I do! I can feel them!" Jack reassured.


	23. On the Search

Merida was flying through the air, still holding onto Hiccup's left foot in a death grip. One second she was with Hiccup, the next, he was gone. Her red curtain of hair masked her eyes from seeing where she was being rushed to. And, it may have been her imagination, but she thought she heard Hiccup call after her.

_But that's ridiculous. He hates me._ Merida thought miserably.

She struggled against the strain of the bow string around her chest. She tried to break the string, but it was as strong and as durable as any archer could ever dream. She tried to slip it out from underneath, but the force of the bow string being pulled was too much for her strength.

Her back crashed into a wall and the bow that was around her disintegrated to black dust. The wind was knocked out of her lungs, so she threw a coughing fit. After regaining a little bit of breath she had left, Merida blinked the dark spots out of her eyes and looked around, taking in her surroundings. What she saw were endless doorways that opened up to dark corridors. She scrambled to pick up Hiccup's foot, hoping to reunite him with it as soon as she found a way out. Shadows festered in the corners, while eyeing her with mischievous grins.

What was surprising to her was the silence. Every sound made her jump, even the ones that she made. She felt like she was being watched and looked behind her periodically. All she knew was she was alone.

Rapunzel felt the arms of Nightmare Jack fade away gradually and she took a swing with her frying pan she still clutched with white knuckles. She was panting and wheeled around to get her bearings.

It was scary and unsettling, but no threat. She relaxed her guard slightly. Nightmares crept through their preferred surroundings, watching her. As she stood up straight, they darted around in distinct masses. Rapunzel stepped back and strode the other way, looking for a way out.

Merida was on the move as well. She wasn't daft. She knew Pitch was behind this. So, her main task had become finding him and taking him out. To teach him a lesson not to mess with the princess of DunBroch.

Weaponless, she had to be vigilant and swift. She kept a close grip onto Hiccup's foot, hoping that, if the time came, she'd use to defend herself. She trekked through the stony corridors cautiously, looking for her next target. She was desperately worn out and her back was sore from being slammed against the stone wall. But she had to pull through.

Merida realized she wasn't alone anymore. Her instincts kicked in and she was on red alert. She sensed something moving through the dark. It's movements were not subtle. Merida froze, not to give herself away to the threat. She wished Hiccup was there with her.

She wondered about the others. Was Hiccup trying to find her? What had happened to Rapunzel and Jack? Were they alright? Did Pitch somehow capture them? She hoped they were all in a better situation than she was.

The movement in the darkness shifted abruptly making Merida jump. She couldn't see it, but she was sure it could see her. She geared back her arms, readying herself to take a swing. The shadow, or whatever it was just standing there, stood rigid as ever. Merida exhaled, and sprinted forward. She swung down the leg but she heard a loud clank of metal on metal. When she looked up, she saw that the blow was blocked by a frying pan.

Realization came across Merida's eyes as the figure pulled her into a tight hug. Rapunzel's small frame was shivering slightly, but she saw her smile light up her face. Merida was happy to see anyone familiar at all at this point. She returned the hug.

"Rapunzel? What are you doing here?" she asked. There was a million other questions to be asked, but this was the most straight forward one she could think of at that moment.

Rapunzel released her and looked at her with wide eyes. "I should ask you the same question, to be frank." she said.

"What happened to you?" she looked around her for any signs of the winter spirit always trailing behind her, it seemed. "Where's Jack?".

At the mention of Jack's name, Rapunzel's look saddened. "We were in the fog." she explained, "There was this wall separating us and he tried to get over it. And I thought he made it over, only when I went to him, he-he changed." Rapunzel shifted her feet while recalling the memory, "It was horrible. He started to grab at me and he started dissolving into the darkness like mist.

"But that wasn't even the strangest part! While I was trying to get away from 'Jack', I saw a duplicate of Jack running over to get me. I would assume that one was the real Jack. He looked so scared for me..."

"You think that thing that took you was a copy of Jack? Only as a Nightmare?" Merida asked. "Are you scared of Jack or something?"

"No of course not. I mean, at that time-no!" She shrugged off the last sentence, clutching her arms. Merida looked at her and imagined the scene. She tried to imagine seeing her mother guiding her and calling for help, and then turning out to be some trick devised by Pitch. That only made her anger flare.

Merida looked back and saw Rapunzel tearing up. Merida swung her arm around her reassuringly.

"It's alright, Rapunzel." Merida sighed. "It's Pitch's way of toying with us to get the things he wants." Rapunzel wiped away a stray tear falling down her cheek. Merida sighed lightly and hugged her from the side. "C'mon, we have to find a way out of here." Merida said. "Jack and Hiccup must be searching for us." She looked to Rapunzel for her reaction. Her tearing friend gave a slight nod.

_They have to be._ Merida concluded in her thoughts.

Jack was flying frantically around, looking for something that seemed off. His mind buzzed with the thought of Rapunzel. Where did Pitch take her? Was he doing horrible things to her? His mind throbbed when he thought about how he was going to murder Pitch. He gripped his staff tighter and the light that glowed from it guided him and Hiccup through the darkness of the woods.

"Any trail that we're following yet?" Hiccup called ahead.

Jack slowed down to fly alongside Toothless.

"How would you track them then? I'm alright with letting you lead." He said slyly.

"Toothless can try to sense them. I've seen him do it before." Hiccup replied smugly and gave Toothless a pat to get started. The dragon stretched his neck out an let off waves of sensors that stretched through the forest below and in front of them. Jack watched in wonder as Toothless went into some light trance. His green-gold eyes narrowed to slits as his sensors ticked. When it seemed as though they had a lead, the dragon purred.

"He could have something." Hiccup noticed. He looked over to Jack and gave him a superior smile.

"Oh, shove off." Jack said and Toothless flew ahead to the disturbance in the woods he sensed.

Where Toothless landed lead to a small clearing in the woods. A few birds shed their songs from the trees around the three as they approached a hole in the very center of the glade. There sat a rickety, worn down, twisted bed above a hole in the ground big enough for a single person to fit through. The two peered at it questionably.

"An abandoned well spot maybe?" Hiccup wondered aloud.

"What's with the bed then?" Jack asked.

"Whatever it is. This is the only misplacement for miles and miles around. It could be a way to the girls." Hiccup said.

Jack peered down the hole and knelt before the bed. Leaning against the frame, he pushed with all of his might, skidding the bed's skeleton off of the hole. When he succeeded, he peered down the dark hole. "You first." Jack stated.

"Age before beauty." Hiccup countered with a pat on Jack's back. Jack glared at him in response but stopped when Toothless purred behind them.

"What about him? He can't fit through the entrance." Jack pointed out.

"I got it." Hiccup waved him off and turned to Toothless and proceeded to give the dragon instructions to meet them back at this spot in thirty minutes. Toothless grunted and bounded off into the forest. Hiccup nodded after his friend and turned back around.

"There is no way he understood all of that" The snow spirit said.

"I'm a dragon trainer." Hiccup said as he approached the entrance, "He understood it." Jack shrugged and floated down into the black abyss, only thinking of Rapunzel.


	24. Nightmare Dungeon

With Rapunzel following closely behind Merida, they walked cautiously through Pitch's dungeon. They seemed to be underground, but that was hard to clarify with the walls blanketed with darkness. The darkness seemed to drape over corners, all attempting to smother the two princesses. Merida watched the movements in the dark and clutched the only weapon she had available to her: Hiccup's foot. She reminded herself over and over to apologize to Hiccup if his foot ever got badly damaged. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Pitch watched the two secretly from afar with a bored gaze. He longed for more excitement to watch. Nightmares around him stirred impatiently. He waved a hand to his restless creations.

"Don't worry," he purred, "You will soon be satisfied with never ending fear." The nightmares relaxed at their master's words of promise.

Merida and Rapunzel stumbled on through the dark lair which made Pitch smile at how clueless they were to the terrors that he had in store. The Nightmare King felt other presences in his maze and looked forward to the fun he could have with his new guests.

One thing Pitch was starting to hate was the fiery princess of one of his breeding grounds, DunBroch. He despised her determination and bravery. But all people can crack under pressure, and he was set on breaking her spirit in the most soul crushing way possible.

So, yes, he had a lot of fun to look forward to.

Jack clutched his staff, the light emitting from it showed little ways in front of the two. He held it defensively in case any nightmares attacked out of nowhere. Hiccup held his dagger he snatched at last second back at his house along with his spare leg.

Jack's mind was fixed on Rapunzel, and where she was, and what Pitch was doing to her, if he had her that is. He grit his teeth at the thought of Pitch. He wanted to kill him with a burning passion. If he even laid a hand on Rapunzel, Jack would end him. He strained to hear faraway noises, waiting and wanting to hear any familiar sounds. Nothing was new to him, but the sounds of his bare feet and Hiccup's metal leg echoing off the cool rock surfaces.

With Jack focused on his surroundings, Hiccup was lost in his mind. He held his dagger out in front of him and was scanning the unknown for a threat. He would feel much more secure with Toothless in the cave with them, but he knew that if the dragon was there, he would be in danger of never coming out again. And Hiccup wouldn't live with himself if that were to happen.

Hiccup's mind also thought of Merida. After years of hating the Scotts, he surprised himself by falling in love with her so effortlessly. But she was a princess of an enemy clan to the Vikings. So, he shook his head and dismissed his thought about love. _It wasn't real feelings_, he told himself.

"So what's the plan here?" Hiccup asked. Jack looked back at him with a smirk.

"I like to think on my feet."

"That's good for you, but I need a plan to be sure I don't get myself killed."

"We can still get killed with or without a plan, you know." Jack pointed out.

"Well, we wouldn't want that to happen. I still need to have my fun." Pitch's voice echoed through the boys' eardrums. Jack flinched and looked around for his vengeful target.

"Relax, relax. It's just us gents'. No need for all this hostility." Pitch revealed himself on a bridge above them. Before Hiccup could stop him, Jack flew up to meet him.

"Where's Rapunzel?" Jack demanded. He clutched and aimed his staff at the Nightmare King. He merely waved off Jack's threatening tone and disappeared in the shadows and reappeared next to Hiccup.

Hiccup jumped and pointed his dagger at his enemy. Pitch sighed at the Viking. "I would say you're the most perplexing. You hold no value to me but you still have my interest."

Hiccup tightened his grip on the dagger. "I'm no toy of yours." He said menacingly.

"You see? That's how. How does he do that?" Pitch gestured to him. "This young, pathetic, thing in his village. No wonder you to ran to enemy lines for some recognition. Of course I'm referring to your little Scottish friend." He smirked as Hiccup's eyes widened at the mention of Merida. Before he could say anything, Pitch continued. "No. Not surprising at all. Well, I can say we all agree that these teams have grown dull. Time to switch partners." Pitch disappeared along with Hiccup and Jack's vision of each other. The two were separate and alone. But not for long.

Rapunzel stayed closely to Merida as they continued through the dark. Rapunzel was playing with the blue fabric of Jack's present she was wearing. Her mind kept going to him when fear was creeping in. She would give anything to be back with him. Especially back at her tower. She pulled the sweatshirt closer to her when a steady burst of cold past over the two. She looked around in the dreary atmosphere. She tugged on Merida. There appeared to be someone, or something, with them.

"Merida, look! That must be one of them." She said quietly, so not to stir up trouble. Merida looked in that direction.

"Jack?! Hiccup!? Is that you?" Merida called. They heard Jack's voice come faintly from the two silhouettes.

"Where is she?" Jack asked urgently. Rapunzel took a step in their direction. Jack repeated that question again, waiting for an answer. Then, Rapunzel took off running.

"I'm here! I'm here, Jack!" She cried.

"Rapunzel! Get back here!" Merida's commands fell on deaf ears as Rapunzel ran towards Jack. She ran until she was out of Merida's view. Merida ran after her quickly, silently cursing to herself.

"Rapunzel! Where the blasted-? Rapunzel come back!" Merida called. She slowed her run to a jog, and then stopped, frantically looking around her for any sign of her friend.

She scanned the dark until she saw movement and raced towards it. She came up to a whole new scenery then what she left behind. She stood facing a cave mouth with a man at the center. This great man, from what Metida could see, was prepped for bloody battle. She watched wordlessly as he gripped the ax he clutched in his great fists. He let out a roar and Merida nearly jumped out of her skin as countless dragons around her took flight towards the man. They didn't attack the man. It was as if they were fleeing.

She dodged and weaved through the exiting dragons and heard cheering farther from the man. Merida crept forward when the man turned his back. She stayed in the shadows and climbed a rock to see a Viking army on a beach.

She smiled at her never before seen look at the Viking way. She looked at the man of the cave and recognized him as the leader. It was customary for a chief, or leader, to lead an attack on their enemies. She heard him mutter something and shout orders to the cheering crowd to be ready. The ground shook as he said it, sending Merida tumbling off of her perch, and watched as the cave floor split open with a ear shattering roar suffocating the air.

Merida panicked and scurried out of the cave and revealed herself to the Viking armada. Just at this moment, Merida realized that she was screaming. It was only her voice bouncing off the interior of the cave. She silenced herself when the Vikings backed away in fear of her. Them backing up made Merida stand abruptly. She was taken aback by the many screams that shot out from the crowd. They started to run away in the direction of their boats. The chief tried to stop them.

"Stop running! I'm not a threat to you!" Merida yelled at the Vikings. She threw her hands in the air to divert the crowd away but in doing so, she set the boats on fire.

Now the Vikings were fighting back. Merida dodged the stones shot from catapults. She had nothing to protect herself with except Hiccup's severed leg. She looked in great fear as the leader (who was, keep in mind, about three times as large as herself), along with a man with two missing limbs, came running toward her. The leader threw a spear at her. The pointed weapon narrowly passed in front of her face. She then watched in confusion as they tried to get her to attack them.

Along with the other swarms of Vikings trying to fend her off, she gasped as a blast shot behind her followed by a brigade of dragon riding teens flew through the air. But her heart skipped when she recognized a familiar face. He was instructing the other teens what to do.

"Hiccup!" Merida gasped.


	25. Torment in the Dark

Jack watched helplessly as Hiccup disappeared from his view. Now he was alone.

He sighed and gripped the wooden staff a little tighter as he moved on in search of Hiccup. What was he planning?

Pitch kept disappearing before Jack could get any answers out of him. Pitch was a coward, hiding away. Jack let the light from his staff reflect light on the cave walls. Suddenly, his head turned to a shrill scream echoing around the cave. His mind shot to focus and he flew toward the sound. He longed to find Rapunzel but didn't want her to be in any harm. Jack just wanted to see her. He flew faster to the screaming.

Merida watched the dragons circle her in the air. She watched Hiccup, astounded at his leader skills. She tried to wave to him, gesturing for him to look down and see her, but there was no sign of recognition in his face towards her. One of the dragons circling her above. It was blue with spikes on it's tail. It was if it were sizing her up, taking in all of her flaws. Another dragon, this one with two heads, zoomed in front of her.

"Troll!"

"Butt elf!"

"Bride of Grendel!" Two riders, who looked very similar to each other, taunted all while dragons surrounded her on both sides banging their weapons on shields. Merida felt annoyance flare inside as she tried to silence the gawking twins. More dragons swarmed around her, holding out their shields. She looked at them in confusion as they started banging their weapons onto their shields. The constant sounds were causing her to get a headache.

"It's working!" One of the teen Vikings shouted triumphantly over the ruckus.

She eyed him with great distaste.

"Uh, this thing doesn't have a blind spot." a rather portly Viking exclaimed.

The Viking's noise was causing their dragons to become as frazzled as she was, and were dropping from the sky. The portly Viking swerved away on his crashing dragon onto the stony ground. She blinked a few times, trying to block out the noise. Older, adult Vikings tossed ropes around her body, tying her up.

"What's goin' on?!" she yelled as she was forced to stand tall.

The portly Viking threw his battle hammer to a Viking with spiky, unwashed, black hair before crashing to the ground.

"I can't miss!" He said gleefully and took the hammer and pounded halfheartedly at Merida's sides. The dull blows did do damage, but nothing that Merida couldn't shake off at a moments notice.

"Let go of me!" Merida screeched as she struggled more determinedly out of the Viking's grip. They wavered as a new wave of strength hit Merida. The two headed dragon and it's riders came back to his aid.

She watched as the blue dragon Hiccup was riding soared above her head and dropped him off on one of the burning boats. Merida started running towards him, ignoring the Vikings still fighting to restrain her.

She sprinted towards the scrawny viking, thinking what the hell he was doing to put himself in danger like that. Most importantly, she wanted to be near him. To see if he still remembered her so he could call off this stupid brawl the others seemed to be unleashing on her.

As she started for the boats, they seemed to crack and strain with her presence. She ran for the ships, giving them a dangerous amount of stress. At her touch, they broke and split in half. Merida watched hopelessly as Hiccup fell in the water. Along with what seemed like Toothless. Merida backed away from the wreckage she seemed to create, her heart beating in her chest.

She looked off through the thresh of Vikings to see the leader of the tribe dive in the water after Hiccup. Vikings trying to fight her, fiercely, blocked her view of them. Her head turned and she saw a familiar female rider flying through the air. Merida grit her teeth. Astrid flew around her in a haze. Merida looked around her and picked up a broken spike from the ground. With blind fury, she hurled the object at her as Astrid dared to get closer and closer.

The dragon and Astrid were hit and was phased so much, it threw Astrid off and sent her plummeting to the ground. Merida watched as she spun through the air, longing to see the sight of her broken body lying on the rocky beach. All until a black, burred figure snatched her up from the air. Astrid gasped as she watched Hiccup and Toothless set her gingerly on the ground, unharmed. After the episode she made at Rapunzel's tower, Merida would have never thought Hiccup would forgive her.

Toothless swerved in the sky while Merida was pondering the situation and shot her with a sickening blast in the side. She hit the ground. The pain was excruciating. She found herself screaming again. She looked up and saw Hiccup flying toward her for another strike. She shut her eyes and waited to die.

Jack followed the screaming at top speed. His adrenaline was pumping through his veins and giving him his only energy. He skidded along the hall, catching air frequently to gain speed, as he made his way to the victim of terror or pain. The tunnel walls opened up and revealed a clearing. All Jack saw was a mess of red hair on the ground.

Merida.

He got to her and she stopped screaming as he took her in his arms. She as limp as a rag doll, her eyes rolled in the back of her head. Jack looked terrified at her still body. He took hold of her shoulders and tried to shake her to wake her up. From what he could see, she seemed physically unharmed.

"Merida? Oh my God, wake up." He exclaimed urgently. Her head bounced unresponsively. "Come on. You should be way too tough to let this get you down."

There was still no response. Still, Jack wanted to do something. So, he picked Merida up, tossed her on his shoulder, and set out on finding the others again. He hoped they were doing better than he was.

Rapunzel kept running. Her breathing altered by her panting as she ran across the cold, desolate floor. She wanted to give up on searching for her friends. But, she had a goal. To get to Jack and the others.

"Jack? Jack?!" she called. No sign. But she knew she had heard him. She slowed her pace and looked around for another destination.

_If only I had my frying pan._ she thought, _I'd feel a lot less helpless._ She sighed in frustration and started to walk steadily ahead, looking for any familiar landmarks she might have passed before. She might be running in circles after all...

The further she went, she noticed that her footsteps sounded louder as they echoed on the walls. Which made the next sound she heard was all the more terrifying.


End file.
